gb news. >> well. good afternoon. britain it is 12:00 on friday the 3rd of may with emily carver and today? one day only. gloria de piero. >> it's great to be here with you, emily. we've got a great show ahead. after a bruising day for his party in the local elections, we will hear from the prime minister rishi sunak. we can do that straight away . can do that straight away. >> last week, i announced a historic increase in our defence spending to 2.5% of gdp. because i believe, as prime minister, that's necessary to keep our country safe from the increasing threats that we face. and today i'll be speaking at a passing out parade and paying tribute and congratulating some of our brave armed forces personnel about the careers that they're about the careers that they're about to embark on. we're very grateful to have their service right to the other questions, if that's okay, to the to the to the election results overnight , the election results overnight, these results show you're on course to lose the next general

election , don't they? well, election, don't they? well, obviously it's disappointing to lose good, hard working conservative councillors and i'm grateful to them for all their service in local government. keeping council tax low and delivering services for local people. but we've still got lots of results to come as well. just and there are also things that i would point to harlow, for example, where keir starmer held a rally just on wednesday saying that was a place that he had to win to be on track to win a general election. that hasn't happened, and indeed we're still waiting for the result. in the tees valley mayoralty , just near tees valley mayoralty, just near to here, which is obviously a very important test as well . very important test as well. >> do you need to convince your party you can do better in a general election? >> well, as i said, if keir starmer was in harlow on wednesday saying that was a place that he needed to win in order to win the next general election, that hasn't happened. we still haven't got the results from places like tees valley with the mayoralty results, which again is a key battleground. i'm focused completely on the job at hand that's delivering for people across the country . if you just across the country. if you just look at what we're doing in the

last week or so alone, a £900 tax cut, hitting people's pay slips, the first failed asylum seeker off to rwanda . at the seeker off to rwanda. at the same time, what if labour said, well, they said that they are going to scrap the rwanda scheme and as far as i can tell, offer and as far as i can tell, offer an amnesty to illegal migrants. that's no way to solve that problem , which is important to problem, which is important to people right up and down the country. >> okay, and just on to the climate vote this morning. what's your reaction to the government's climate plan being defeated in court today? >> well, obviously i haven't seen the judgement, so i can't comment on that in detail. but with regard to net zero in general, what i would say is i'm proud of our track record. we've decarbonised faster than any other major economy around the world, cutting carbon emissions by 50. but last year i set out a more pragmatic approach to get to net zero. of course, we believe in it. i want to get there, but we're going to do that in a way that doesn't saddle families with bills that we don't need to. and that's the change that i made that will save families five, ten, £15,000. i think that's the right approach. it's pragmatic . right approach. it's pragmatic. and given the overall economic situation, it's the right thing

for our country now. other people are going to have more dogmatic, ideological views about it, like the labour party. but i don't think it's wrong to saddle people with those costs, particularly when our record already on decarbonising our economy is so strong. >> prime minister, thank you. >> prime minister, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> right. well, that's what rishi sunak, the prime minister, had to say. he was trying to remain a remain a little bit positive, wasn't he there? >> well i think they have done some really good expectation management actually in the conservative party they have said just look out. they've said that essentially these results are to be measured by the success, the tory success in tees valley and in the west midlands. yeah. and guess what? and guess what the, the labour, it's reported by the press association that labour have conceded that ben houchen has kept tees valley, albeit with a reduced majority. and we know it's very tight in the west midlands too. so good expectation management, but it's going to be a mixed picture isn't it, emily? it's true. >> he kept pointing to harlow, which keir starmer was apparently trying to. well

saying that he was going to achieve and win. but rishi sunak pointing out that he did not achieve that one at least. but let's not pretend it's been a good day for rishi sunak. it certainly has not. and he said there will be many disappointed local councillors out there , local councillors out there, tory local councillors anyway. but of course we're going to be looking at some other election results, aren't we? >> yes, we're going to be up and down the country as the election results continues to come in. we've got a packed three hours actually just mentioned the mayor in tees valley, that's ben houchen. he won on 73% last time. it will be reduced. but the tory mayor stays in there. the east midlands and york and nonh the east midlands and york and north yorkshire, their new mayoralties. so that's going to be really interesting . and the be really interesting. and the nonh be really interesting. and the north east will also be getting that in narrow time currently laboun that in narrow time currently labour, but they had a sort of battle over who was going to be the candidate. so the existing labour mayor was barred from standing and he's standing as an independent against a kim mcguinness, the official labour candidate. keep up. if he can. >> well that's all very

exciting. it was all very exciting. it was all very exciting. it was all very exciting. i promise you, because the local council results, they're coming in thick and fast . everything is going on on this show between 12 and 3. so many results are going to come in and they're going to shape potentially the results of the general election . general election. >> so joining us for the next few hours of our special local election coverage is none other than the legendary journalist gb news news's alastair stewart has come to join us. alastair, you have witnessed so many of these elections . it's a good have witnessed so many of these elections. it's a good night for laboun elections. it's a good night for labour. it's a good night for the tories . if you were to put the tories. if you were to put these results, these local election results, taking place at maximum six months before the general election, you're going to put them in a historical context. how bad is it for the tories? how good is it for the labour party ? labour party? >> i think it is seriously bad for the conservative party, not least because reform did very well indeed in blackpool south,

and a beginning to pick up little nuggets of progress here and there. and i think that's because it boils down to the core challenge for rishi sunak , core challenge for rishi sunak, who we just heard from. and that is what is he standing for? what does the conservative party stand for nowadays ? i mean, i stand for nowadays? i mean, i you talk about legendary and been around for a long, long time, but i can remember the core philosophical political debates between ted heath and margaret thatcher, between the free marketeers and the monetarists and all of that lot. but i also lived through new laboun but i also lived through new labour, as indeed did you . and i labour, as indeed did you. and i can remember lengthy conversations with the likes of charles clarke and john reid. what does labour really for stand after michael foot? and to get through to that position that saw tony blair not only win but win for a decade, be in no doubt at all today , anyone doubt at all today, anyone listening or watching us here on gb news keir starmer is not a tony blair and his labour party is not in the same position that tony blair's labour party was.

after all of that work that mandelson and clarke and reid and the rest of them did. so i think that sunak, funnily enough, in that little sound bait bite where he talked about, defence spending, having gone up, but labour took rushmore, not far from where i live, hampshire, surrey borders, which is a military area. aldershot, home of the british army. so despite increasing defence spending , it went to labour. spending, it went to labour. i think that is quite significant. i also agree 100, and i said it when i was talking on the programme earlier on with the prime minister, that labour's failure to take harlow is vital. going way back over the years that i've covered these things, there's an area in and around north london, along the north banks of the thames that whoever wins the general election has got to do really well , and got to do really well, and labour have not done very well in those two areas. so i think funnily enough, sunak still has a fair bit to play for , although

a fair bit to play for, although he's attending a passing a passing out parade tonight for, for young soldiers. i don't think , in my own humble opinion think, in my own humble opinion that sunak will be passing out just yet. >> alastair stewart is so good to have your lifelong experience and wisdom throughout the afternoon with us. we'll be back and forth to you as the news develops. absolutely >> it is indeed better. last night , reform >> it is indeed better. last night, reform uk >> it is indeed better. last night , reform uk performed night, reform uk performed admirably. some might say in the blackpool by—election, finishing less than 1% behind the conservatives. that's got to worry the tories, that's got to worry the tories, that's got to worry rishi sunak. but are they just haemorrhaging votes from the conservative party? the other leading right wing party, the leading right wing party, i should say joining us now is the leader of reform uk, richard tice, who i mean, goodness me, richard, have you been to sleep ? richard, have you been to sleep? >> no, to be honest, i haven't. >> no, to be honest, i haven't. >> but it's all right. coffee and chocolate and we're

absolutely fine. >> you referred earlier in your introduction to excitement, and last night for us was a very exciting evening. it was neck and neck for about two hours. we thought we'd just pipped it and then not quite sure. but look, then not quite sure. but look, the reality is we've we've succeeded with our best ever by—election result by some margin , significantly ahead of margin, significantly ahead of our national polling average. many people in the media have now got egg on their face. they said we couldn't do it. you know, we were a virtual party. well, we've just proven them completely and utterly wrong. and look, the tories vote collapsed from about 50% to 17. i mean, that is a huge collapse. and we're the party that's on the up there. the party that's on the way down. >> let's be real though, richard, all you're doing is making a labour government more likely, far more likely. indeed. you're unlikely to get many mps , you're unlikely to get many mps, if any, at all, at a general election. so what exactly is the game plan here? just destroying the conservative party's chances and putting a labour government in. >> let's let's be very clear, they don't have , a sort of

they don't have, a sort of arrogant entitlement to govern you actually have to perform. we trusted them back in 2019 when we stood down, they betrayed the promises. they betrayed us on brexit. they betrayed us on immigration, on. so they have to be punished. and look, there's no difference. >> but hang on, you don't have enough support though to do it properly, do you? you do have enough support to fill the house of commons with your elected representatives. so what's the point where the point is the two main parties are two forms of socialism high taxes, high government spending, ever worse, pubuc government spending, ever worse, public sector outcomes , no public sector outcomes, no growth, mass immigration. >> it's a disaster for the country. democracy is better, emily. when voters have got more people to consider, more debate, to look at more discussion. and that's what we represent. and frankly, richie, that richard tice i think we'd all accept that the country is going to see either rishi sunak or keir starmer as prime minister. >> i'm actually interested in your personal view. who would your personal view. who would you rather have in number 10, i think they're both a disaster for the country , frankly,

for the country, frankly, because they're both forms of socialism. and we're unless we change course, we are heading towards disaster. >> go on, richard, pick one. >> go on, richard, pick one. >> if you had to, if you had to pick one, with the greatest of respect , i'm pick one, with the greatest of respect, i'm not going to pick one. >> i think they're both disastrous. look what sunak has done to the country. we know that starmer doesn't know what a woman is. i mean, the whole thing is just preposterous. that's why we need proportional representation. but, look, unless we change course , then unless we change course, then we're currently in the longest economic recession per person for 70 years. that will continue . we will continue to feel poorer, and the country will get worse and worse off. and frankly, it's got to change. we've got to stop mass immigration. we've got to stop this job destroying rush towards net zero. that's killing our jobs, killing our economy and britain needs reform in so many different ways. and that's what our policy agenda is all about. >> do you still chat to tory mps? obviously you have the defection of lee anderson, who is now a reform mp. i am certain

you would like more . you've said you would like more. you've said in the past that conversations are ongoing. are you still hopeful of another tory mp to defect to you before that, general election? >> oh, i think that if the general election is in the autumn , then yes, i think that autumn, then yes, i think that will be 1 or 2. who knows . more will be 1 or 2. who knows. more defections. obviously they've got to meet our qualifications in terms of values and principles, but as individuals there's lots of very nice people from all the different parties. but fundamentally their policies have led us into a terrible place. and if you don't perform, you get fired . it's as simple as you get fired. it's as simple as that, whether it's in a company or whether it's the people running the country. >> well, richard , we know how >> well, richard, we know how popular the likes of nigel farage, farage is among the tory party faithful. i remember at a conference, gosh, he was mobbed. he was mobbed by all these conservative members, which was very interesting to see. could there be a plan somehow a plan to have a kind of hostile

takeover of the conservative party, somehow get to the position where nigel farage or your or your great self are leading the conservative party? >> well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. we've got to deal with this general election. but what we are saying to people is actually and you look at results coming in in sunderland , in the coming in in sunderland, in the nonh coming in in sunderland, in the north east, for example, we beat the tories 16 out of 25 wards. and what i, what i clearly believe is that now in parts of the country like the north and the country like the north and the midlands, we are rapidly becoming the main real opposition to the labour party . opposition to the labour party. and at this election, our ambitious target, we want to get more votes cast than the conservatives. that's our ambition . it's, you know, it's ambition. it's, you know, it's a stretch target, but there's no such thing as a wasted vote, vote reform or any of your candidates on the left. >> say again, any of your candidates you've selected loads of candidates. >> are any of them on the left? i mean , perhaps if you think i mean, perhaps if you think that you if your target is to attract labour voters, then presumably you're in chats with

labour mps and saying, come on, you're welcome. >> this is this is old school language. our candidates, the candidate school richard tice , candidate school richard tice, our candidates are the candidates of common sense to say that's you have to have you have to have a bit of an ideological backing. >> i mean, where do you go with something like nationalisation of the railways? where do you go with tax rates? where do you go with tax rates? where do you go with all sorts of things? you need some kind of underpinning? >> well , if need some kind of underpinning? >> well, if you need some kind of underpinning? >> well , if you look, we've got >> well, if you look, we've got a 30 page contract that shows how you save britain on our website, including actually with regard to things like some of the monopoly monopoly utilities like water companies. there's a better model. we think of 50, 50, 50% public ownership, 50% owned by british pension funds with decent private sector management . that's a much better management. that's a much better model than the current model, which has led us towards, frankly, polluting disaster. so in certain areas , as you might in certain areas, as you might say, that sort of old school laboun say, that sort of old school labour, i just think it's common sense. >> well, there you go. thank you so much. richard tice . we're so much. richard tice. we're going to leave it there. leader of the reform party uk, who did

pretty well up in blackpool. well i mean, the labour party got nearly 60% of the vote. >> i'm just going to bring in a reality check. they're nearly a second party, nearly the second. >> the second party i think it was like was it like 10,000 to 3000? >> i mean, you know, the next they got 3000 each. >> i mean, i do take richard tice point , absolutely that it tice point, absolutely that it is good for voters to have a choice . but the way our system choice. but the way our system works is that it's going to be keir starmer. it's going to be rishi sunak, i know, and i don't think reform are going to get the proportional representation that they seek. >> if you think about the liberal democrats have been campaigning on this for years. they managed to get a deal when they went into coalition with david cameron, actually to have a referendum. it was kicked out then. i just don't think it's going to happen. i'd be really interested in what people think at home, actually. do you think the two party system, is broken because the way our electoral system works, you're going to get labour or a tory government or a coalition. yeah. with one of those at the helm , is that

of those at the helm, is that fair? is that right? i quite like first past the post. i'm old fashioned on that richard tice would tell me i was old fashioned, i think. >> so maybe i'm a bit old fashioned too. but let us know what you think. do you need me to? do you think we need to shake up our electoral system? i mean, every other country seems to do it very differently, jennifer says. emily, stop trying to get reform to step down. it's up to the people to decide, not you. absolutely is. i'm just putting the point to richard that he's probably making a labour government more likely. >> exactly. and i, i, you know, i on the left. but >> exactly. and i, i, you know, ion the left. but i >> exactly. and i, i, you know, i on the left. but i feel for people who are on the right of politics because it makes it really difficult when you have a split in the vote on, on the right. of course, it makes it easier for the party that i used to be an mp for to, to emerge in that sense. >> and the liberal democrats aren't putting up much of a fight, at least in national polling, although at local elections they can do quite well . they can do quite nicely, can't they? >> so we'll be hearing, won't we? soon even though we sort of it's report. yes. that. yeah. it's ben houchen. the tory has held on but it will be the swing

and we'll bring you by the way, when that result is formally announced, when the declaration is formally announced, we'll take you right there, but what will be interesting is interesting is not just that he is held on. it will be interesting to see what the swing is from. from conservative to labour in that race because there's so many marginal seats up there. >> it's quite interesting what that seat, what that mail election will tell us is ben houchen just a competent , houchen just a competent, popular politician? there was lots of talk about the fact that he'd sort of moved a sort of tried not to call himself a tory too much, tried to not shout. there's been a hide. the fact he's a tory in the west midlands to andy street, very much running on their incumbency. >> but you know, you could say the same for andy burnham, another big figure who doesn't really need the sort of starmer labour brand to ensure that he he wins. they're being quite popular local leaders. but will their parties harm them a bit? is the truth in ben hawkins case. but his majority was so

big. yeah, it's pretty much impossible to take it out in one go. >> what we do know, though, turnout has been pretty low. did you go out and vote? let us know. let us know what you make of what richard tice had to say there. and of course, alistair stewart gbnews.com/yoursay is the way to get in touch, get involved in the conversation. we'll read out some more comments in a little bit, but coming up, we're just moments away from that declaration. >> i was talking about in tees valley. labour have conceded to the conservative mayor, ben houchen a big hold for the tories. but what does the swing mean? we'll be discussing that in a few minutes. this is

good. >> right. welcome back. it's 1221. you're watching and listening to good afternoon, britain. this time with me. emily carver. but gloria de piero as well i am. >> and we've got some fantastic results for our airtime. so we'll be looking at where the

surprises are. two new mayoralties. but obviously there was well, not really a surprise last night, but there was a great labour victory regaining the seat in blackpool south, which had been a tory seat since 2010. a massive swing to labour last night, albeit on a low turnout . and our political turnout. and our political correspondent oliver olivia utley is up there for us. >> olivia olivia utley , is she >> olivia olivia utley, is she there? yes, she's in blackpool south. she's been following . south. she's been following. were you there overnight? olivia, bring us the latest reaction. what's happened? what are people saying ? are people saying? >> well, it was an absolutely catastrophic night for the conservatives. not only did labour win, which was very much predicted, the conservatives only gained the seat of blackpool south in the 2019 election. it was part of the red wall seats and the conservatives only held it with a majority of just over 3000, so it wasn't really a surprise that labour won, but it won with an absolutely enormous swing. there was a swing of 26% away from the conservatives towards labour.

now that is twice the size of the swing that the labour party would need to win an overall majority in a general election. and it was also the third largest by—election victory since the second world war. also, one more stat it was the sixth by—election in which labour has won a majority with a swing of over 20. now i'm saying all that because people often say that you can't sort of extrapolate individual by—election results into a general election, but in this case, there have been so many by—election defeats for the conservatives, one after the other, with these absolutely huge swings to labour. there is certainly a pattern going on here and it does feel as though keir starmers path to downing street has never looked so smooth . smooth. >> last night you could have seen. i find it very interesting to watch the sort of expressions on the various activists political parties faces. could you what could you what sort of colour can you bring us from

that count ? that count? >> well, i've only i've been on from six this morning, so i wasn't at the count last night unfortunately. watch the wrap up , but the mood in blackpool this morning, i mean, the mood of the conservatives in blackpool was very, very low indeed. now it feels like rishi sunak may just cling on. this morning there were there were people in blackpool suggesting that perhaps rishi sunak was going to have to go. now that seems less likely. why? because it looks very much as though ben houchen has managed to cling on to the tees valley mayoralty . it looks tees valley mayoralty. it looks like andy street might have held on to the west midlands as well . on to the west midlands as well. and the other thing that conservatives were really afraid of was the reform party coming in in second place in blackpool south. actually the conservatives just about put them to the post. there are only 117 votes in it, but that sort of means that rishi sunak has a comfort blanket to cling on to. yes it was a disastrous night for the conservatives. there is no getting around it and it

could be that when the dust settles tomorrow, the conservatives have lost around 500 seats. but with those three almost wins, semi wins , proper almost wins, semi wins, proper wins. in the case of tees valley and probably in the case of west midlands as well, it looks likely that rishi sunak will at least lead his party into the next general election and olivia are the conservatives trying to argue, perhaps, that they only lost blackpool south because scott benton obviously was forced to resign in a in a bit of a disgrace after that lobbying sting? >> i mean, it was under pretty poor circumstances . poor circumstances. >> it was i mean, scott benton very much resigned under a cloud. it was a hugely embarrassing parliamentary scandal . but i think that's scandal. but i think that's pretty cold comfort to the conservatives. i mean , a if you conservatives. i mean, a if you are selecting candidates who go down in under that sort of a cloud and it's not the only conservative mp who's been caught up in a scandal that doesn't say very much for your party. i think saying we only lost because we had such a terrible candidate last time isn't a particularly good look.

i also think that, you know, this is part of a pattern. yes. if it was one mp who had been brought down in a scandal and they were replaced by the opposing party, you could argue that it was all down to that one mp. but this is a pattern that we are seeing time and time again. and so speaking to people in blackpool this morning, no one really knew who scott benton was. no one was very interested in the lobbying scandal. what they were interested in is they didn't like the conservatives anymore. not particularly, fond of labour either, but they want to see the back of rishi sunak and his party. >> yeah. thank you so much. talk to you again. glad to hear that you're. you weren't up all night. >> no. she's bright eyed and bushy tailed for us this morning. but chris webb took the seat and he spoke to gb news, a little earlier this morning. i presume he's very delighted , presume he's very delighted, incredibly humbled. >> we had a record result here tonight , and >> we had a record result here tonight, and i promised the people of blackpool south i won't let them down. day in, day out. people were telling me that they're worse off under this conservative government. they've had 14 years of decline in

blackpool . blackpool is a worse blackpool. blackpool is a worse place under this government. they want change and they know a labour government can deliver that. so i've been a community activist in the town for over a decade.i activist in the town for over a decade. i worked with the food bank. i lead award winning mental health charity in blackpool. as chair of trustees, i know the issues in my community. i'm blackpool born and bred. i've seen him day in and bred. i've seen him day in and day out, and i'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get on with the job. keir is very popular in blackpool. we've seen that he's a friend of blackpool. he's been here several times meeting young people, going into our deprived areas and always gets an incredible reception. and this is another vote for his victory and why people want him in downing street . in downing street. >> you go chris webb, he says he's a humbled by blackpool self's decision to elect him , self's decision to elect him, third time he stood for that seat third time, so it must be quite something to finally win it. incidentally and i think i've got this figure right. he is the first blackpool south mp for 60 years to actually come from blackpool and i reckon probably we'd all agree that's probably we'd all agree that's

probably quite a good thing. >> yeah, i think it probably adds something rather than takes away. nice to actually know the area, although of course candidates are always parachuted into whichever area they needed or wherever they stand a chance of winning anyway. should we speak to an expert pollster from opinium, adam drummond? adam, thank you so much for joining opinium, adam drummond? adam, thank you so much forjoining us on this. hard to know where exactly to start . i guess what exactly to start. i guess what people want to know is just how bad have the results been for the conservatives and do they reflect the general voting intentions of the public at the moment? >> yeah, so i would say one of the things that just speaking sort of selfishly from a polling perspective, one of the things that by elections and local elections are really useful for is telling us whether or not the picture that we get from from voting intention polls is broadly sort of accurate. so labour typically ahead by sort of 15 to 20 points, sometimes as high as 25, and the message that we get mainly from these local elections is that, yes, that is a that is about correct. so in most of the cases where it's a straight sort of labour

conservative contest, labour are gaining and exactly the kind of places you would expect them to need to gain in order to get a majority. yes, we have cases like ben houchen in, tees valley, where there's a very strong , element of valley, where there's a very strong, element of a valley, where there's a very strong , element of a personal strong, element of a personal vote there, and as you were both saying earlier, you know, even then, quite a significant swing away from the conservatives, and then the case in by elections, as olivia was just saying, you have a series now of 20 point plus swings from to conservative laboun plus swings from to conservative labour. so there's really nothing in the results that really suggests that , that the really suggests that, that the general sort of consensus that labour are probably going to win is in any way inaccurate. >> so is it almost a foregone conclusion? of course, people have to cast their votes . but if have to cast their votes. but if you were a betting man, rather than just a palling man, you know, how much would you put on keir starmer being our next prime minister, i'm really bad at betting, but , it definitely at betting, but, it definitely is. is more likely than not, and as i said, in terms of, you know, what polling results have been telling us, it's been fairly consistent since almost when sort of liz truss resigned

that labour has been ahead by quite a substantial margin, and then we've had lots of electoral contests since then that have really sort of confirmed that, one thing that we have had over the last day, though, is a couple of interesting kind of nuances that have crept in. so there is some evidence, for example, of, labour struggling in some of these sort of heartland areas where there's a significant muslim population, which possibly relates to their position around gaza . and, position around gaza. and, they're losing some votes to combinations of independent councillors and also the greens, depending on where they are. the other interesting thing is how reform uk are doing, and, and one of the ongoing sort of debates within kind of polling world and, you know, people who are sort of election watchers is whether or not the figure that reform often gets in national polls of about sort of between sort of 12 and 15, whether that's real or not, because they have underperformed in lots of actual electoral contests , you actual electoral contests, you know, by elections and so forth, there's evidence from , where there's evidence from, where they have stood in these elections. i think they only stood in about 12% of seats, and, their figure in blackpool,

that they're not underperforming by as much as they were before. so there is something there, but it's not as high as they sort of should be doing if they really are at like, you know, 14, 15% nationally, like this is pretty low turnouts in elections like this , so i guess there is an this, so i guess there is an argument that lots of conservative voters sat at home. so i don't i can sit this one out. it's going to be a general election in six months. and when it matters, i will go out. and that could totally turn everything on its head, couldn't it? or not, it's it is a valid argument. >> but historical precedents suggest that it's not. that's not necessarily how the sort of things turn out. so one, there's quite a good bit of, analysis done around, i think the, the nadine dorries seat by, by—election, and the level of turnout among , 2019 conservative turnout among, 2019 conservative voters was virtually the same as it was among 2019 labour voters, 2019 lib dem voters. so the sort of drop off effect of people

just not turning out in local elections is fairly sort of uniform across parties. it's not just conservatives who are not turning out, and the other is that , yes, turning out, and the other is that, yes, you turning out, and the other is that , yes, you know, election that, yes, you know, election results are changed by possibly in one party's, voters being less enthused by that party, in i think the gap between 1992 and 1997, something like a million conservative voters just didn't turn out in 90, 1997. and we saw what the results was. so it's it doesn't necessarily mean that they come back on the day, it may be some comfort , but i don't may be some comfort, but i don't think it actually should be that much. >> well, thank you very much indeed for your time. adam drummond, who is an expert pollster from opinium. not a betting man, though. thank you very much indeed for your time. we are hearing that the conservative ben houchen has been re—elected as tees valley mayor, but it. but crucially, perhaps crucially, perhaps with a reduced majority over labour, at least in terms of what this the bigger picture. >> but he will be delighted

about that. there's been some chat and i'm sure the labour party will be making this argument that the mayoral candidates, the conservative mayoral candidates, sort of stood as ben houchen or andy street, rather than as the conservative candidates, but i think actually they could respond , by saying that andy respond, by saying that andy burnham is very much andy burnham is very much andy burnham to say, yes, he's a personality. >> people know him, know him as andy burnham before labour, i think. yeah. >> so maybe it's an unfair criticism by labour, maybe i don't know, i don't know. >> what do you think we're going to be up in, tees valley very soon to get some more detail. how big was that swing to laboun how big was that swing to labour, even though the conservative held the position? this is good afternoon, britain. we're on gb news. we're britain's election channel and we bring you the latest news headlines. >> now . >> now. >> now. >> it's 1233. >> now. >> it's1233. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. your headunes in the gb newsroom. your headlines , some breaking news.

headlines, some breaking news. first, conservative ben houchen has been re—elected as tees valley mayor but with a reduced majority over labour in darlington. he polled 4000 votes more than labour's chris mcewen . more than labour's chris mcewen. lord houchen was already won more votes in hartlepool, redcar and middlesbrough, with just stockton still to be announced . stockton still to be announced. >> coleman as combined authority returning officer, appointed for the election for the mayor of the election for the mayor of the tees valley combined authority on thursday, the 2nd of may 2024. i hereby certify that the total number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows . follows. >> houchen, ben. >> houchen, ben. >> conservative party candidate 81,930. mcewen christopher paul, commonly known as mcewen, chris labour and co—operative party candidate 63,141. thorley simon christopher, commonly known as thorley simon, liberal democrat

7679. the total number of votes cast was 152,750. the number of ballot papers rejected were as follows. two for want of official mark. 118 for voting for more than one candidate, two for more than one candidate, two for writing or mark by which the voter could be identified, and 719 unmarked or void for uncertainty, leaving a total of 841 rejected ballot papers. the total number of ballot papers verified was 153,591, which gives us a turnout of 30.80. i therefore, i therefore give nofice therefore, i therefore give notice that haochen ben conservative party candidate, is duly elected as mayor for the tees valley combined authority

i >> -- >> thank 5mm >> thank you very much, everyone . i'll try and keep this short. nobody wants to listen to me. go on, firstly, i want to thank all of the staff , the returning of the staff, the returning officer, the police and everybody involved in the count. >> thank you. and to everybody last night who came to the verification as well and was very, very late doing the verification. everybody in the polling stations, you've done an incredible job. and the returning officer in stockton council should be extremely proud of the way that they've run the election . so thank you run the election. so thank you for that, when it comes to the election, i just want to say that i am absolutely humbled by everybody that voted for me. teesside is a place where i was born. i grew up, teesside is a place where i was born. i grew up , other teesside is a place where i was born. i grew up, other than a very short sabbatical to newcastle for four years, and then i came straight back. it's a place where i am going to be for the rest of my life, to and be re—elected for a third term in my home, in my community, is absolutely the greatest honour that anybody could ever give me.

so i want to thank anybody that voted for me, it's very, very proud day. i'm delighted. thank you for giving me your backing. thank you for backing me over the last seven years. and thank you for backing my plan for the next four years. we've run a very positive campaign. we've tried to show a clear vision of what we want for our area. we've tried to show how we can change our region for the better. because let's be clear, there's still a long way to go, right? i'm not here pretending that everything's perfect, but we are making good progress. but we need to continue to tackle the problems that we have in our local area. and the plan that i've got in place is the right one. and for as long as i am there, i will continue to work as hard as i possibly can for everybody. vie and for those those people that didn't vote for me, that's absolutely fine. i'll spend the next four years working doubly hard, doubling down, and i'll work even harder to make sure that i can secure your vote in four years time. so i just want to thank everybody out there. but let's keep on going. let's keep pushing. let's keep pushing for a better teesside, darlington and hartlepool. let's deliver more jobs, more investment. and again i just want to thank everybody. it's a really humbling experience. thank you so much. thank you to simon. thank you to

chris, you've both run very strong campaigns . it's been strong campaigns. it's been interesting getting to know both of you and good luck in the future , thank you to everybody. future, thank you to everybody. thank you to all of the volunteers. i can't stand up here and thank everybody because there is such a huge number of people across the whole region, friends, family and others who have given me support, who've been out campaigning, who've been out campaigning, who've been trying to help us win this election, i'll speak to you all afterwards and thank you individually, but i also want to give a very personal thanks to my wife, rachel, and my new baby, hannah, who absolutely i could not do this without. i mean, this has been a very difficult few months. it's been a really hard campaign . there's a really hard campaign. there's been a lot of spotlight on this election, which brings a level of intensity. but having rachel as an absolute rock by my side, i absolutely could not do it without her. so thank you so much, rachel . i owe this all much, rachel. i owe this all entirely to you. thank you to everybody , enjoy the rest of everybody, enjoy the rest of your day and i'm looking forward to some sleep. all the best. thank you. >> well, there you go. there's

the conservative ben houchen. he has been re—elected for a third time as tees valley mayor, so he had lots and lots of thank you's, didn't he? there lots of thank you's. >> indeed. he will be delighted to have held on and held on reasonably , convincingly. he reasonably, convincingly. he joked that he was looking forward to getting some sleep, and just as somebody who has been a candidate , i don't think been a candidate, i don't think he would have slept much last night. so he will have been campaigning till 10:00. then there is something called the verification of the votes overnight, i if i'd have been the candidate , i would have the candidate, i would have personally wanted to see that bit , are you always looking bit, are you always looking oven bit, are you always looking over, sir? >> so, yeah. spare a thought for a particular. the losing ones. they've had no sleep either. >> so let's get you the detail as well. let's get you the detail. because he got 73% of the vote last time this 2021, 2021, 2021, today , 53.6. that's 2021, 2021, today, 53.6. that's 81,930 votes. not bad,

considering how badly the conservatives have been doing in most of these local elections. >> pretty good to get over 50% of the vote. >> yeah, it's a big still way over half of the votes. ben houchen still got the next was labour with 63,141 votes, 41.3. so very much between the conservatives and the labour for that one. and the conservatives have won . there you go. have won. there you go. >> and we'll be examining when that's when those raw figures and percentages are translated into the swing, that's what the labour party will be looking at very closely, and it'll be interesting for all of us to see what that tells us, because there's so many seats that went from blue to red for the first time in 2019, in that region. so the labour party would like , i'm the labour party would like, i'm sure, to say something like, if we'd have replicated a swing , we we'd have replicated a swing, we would have won ten seats in that region. for example, it's funny how they do that. >> i wonder how accurate it is when they sort of extrapolate from one result to, you know,

what it could look like on the general election map, and it's totally red. total wipe—out of the conservatives. >> i know these sorts of results saying labour are going to have 450 seats. i don't buy it. it could happen. >> i don't it could happen. worth also pointing out, apart from this tees valley mayor, which has gone to the conservative again, labour have retained control of blackburn but lost four seats. the conservatives lost two independents, up four. yes. so what does that tell us, it's it tells us that they'll both be a bit worried about that. there's clearly. and i don't know what the sort of demographic or the particular reasons are in that particular reasons are in that part of the world, but there is definitely some evidence of certain parts of the country where independents are doing well, did well last night, and well, did well last night, and we will find out more because we're going to get loads of council results actually in the next couple of hours with me and emily, and we'll be looking to see if we can extrapolate what's going on with the independents in certain parts of the country. >> and labour retained swindon . >> and labour retained swindon. so there you go. the conservatives losing more seats,

the only one that they only won that at the last, last time. >> i think last last year they, they first took swindon. so they're still doing well in swindon. >> so yes a good day for labour but a very good day for ben houchen. so there you go. clearly he might. well he might well be doing a thoroughly good job up there. but anyway joining us now to discuss more on these results from aldershot is gb news reporter ray addison, ray, tell us the reaction you're out there in what looks like the town centre there. what are people saying ? people saying? >> yes. well, good afternoon to you both . well, this is you both. well, this is aldershot. welcome to aldershot. very much part of rushmoor borough council farnborough as well . nearby town about ten well. nearby town about ten minutes drive down the road . minutes drive down the road. part of that two population here, around 40,000 people and very much part of that blue wall. rushmoor borough council has always been blue, but today it has fallen to labour. now that result coming through at around 3 am. this morning,

labour gaining nine nine of the 13 available seats, tories getting three, lib dems getting one. so that means that labour now has control of rushmoor borough council by one seat. a historic event that they are, as they are describing it now, a conservative councillors are blaming to some extent reform . blaming to some extent reform. and if you go through and you take a look at where those reform candidates were sitting and you add their votes to the tories , then the conservatives tories, then the conservatives would have got two more seats and obviously labour would have had two fewer. as i said, labour keen to highlight this as historic. they say the fact that they can win a military town like aldershot is proof that they've kind of changed since they've kind of changed since the days of jeremy corbyn and that connection has been reset. however, when i talk to people here on the town centre, the word i can use to sum it up is apathy. hardly a single person that i spoke to was even aware

that i spoke to was even aware that a council election was taking place. i've managed to find one person who voted a self—described leftie. he sat up all night watching the results. he said that he didn't so much vote for sir keir starmer. he simply voted against the tories because he's so disillusioned. does he think that it's going to be much better because there's a labour council rather than a tory run council? the honest answer , he told me, was no. so answer, he told me, was no. so it would appear just from the very, very small sample of people that i've spoken to, that there has not been a huge sort of motive , national shift of of motive, national shift of people who've come along and decided to turn this tory council into a labour one. it's just simply not many people have voted, and those that have have just been bored with the current opfion just been bored with the current option that they have available. and the guy that i spoke to did say, however, that he thinks it probably is an indication that the tory mp here, who's always been a tory constituency, where could potentially be at risk at the next election now, labour had been laying the groundwork

here. they sent their defence shadow defence secretary here, john, john healey. shadow defence secretary here, john, john healey . and so he's john, john healey. and so he's been talking to squaddies as well. obviously there's a lot of squaddies here, however, the squaddies here, however, the squaddies that i've been speaking to as well, just weren't even voting, didn't even know about it. >> rafe fascinating snapshot. thank you for bringing that to us. ray addison there in aldershot. >> yes, that apathy people just not bothering not bothering to get out. >> i mean, it's always been like that in local elections hasn't it. >> yeah. yes it has. >> but it might be a lower turnout in the general perhaps. lots of people. i was fascinated actually , by the pollster saying actually, by the pollster saying that in 1997, when that big labour landslide that he, that a million tory voters stayed at home for that. i didn't know that before. yeah >> well, i mean, judging by my local polling station, not many people were interested. i don't by post, do you? yeah. i organised you're not going to tell me off now. you know elderly or vulnerable. >> no, but i just like as far as i know . are we voting you tom harwood? >> emily tom harwood, who's

usually there? >> here, he, he also does the postal vote. so there you go. let us know . do you do the let us know. do you do the postal vote? i like going in there, getting the little pencil, doing my little cross, but there you go, it's 12.55. got loads , 45 loads more loads got loads, 45 loads more loads and more great guests, loads more exciting results. >> straight after

break. >> well. good afternoon. britain. it's 1249. >> well. good afternoon. britain. it's1249. you're >> well. good afternoon. britain. it's 1249. you're with me. emily carver and gloria de piero on local elections day. >> lots of big results. still to come. and now we can speak to the. oh, it's not on the autocue. let me see if my memory. south derbyshire conservative mp yeah south derbyshire, heather wheeler, heather wheeler one of my former neighbours. nice to see you. heather wheeler how are you. so we've just heard a result. you'll be pleased about that. ben houchen has held for on you in tees valley. there is a new

post you don't need me to tell you of east midlands mayor, which will be finding the results out today. there is no real incumbency factor because it's a it's the first time that, voters in the east midlands have ever voted for a mayor the polls favoured labour. what are you heanng favoured labour. what are you hearing ? heanng? >> well, it's been a really strange campaign up here because, lots of people were using the tag. three jobs, ben, where in fact, the labour candidate has eight jobs and, you know, you find this very, very frustrating that, what would you know? apparently. what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander. but there you go. that's politics, so we're, we're interested to see the turnouts, some turnouts have been high, some turnouts have been high, some turnouts have been low. and i think that's probably going to be the key factor whether we get, ben in or whether we get claire in for. >> i'm always sceptical. sceptical about these mayoral

positions and these elections, why does the east midlands need a mayor? >> for starters , east midlands >> for starters, east midlands has had the lowest input of taxpayers money for years. and years and years, certainly our, social services spend, our, education spend , infrastructure education spend, infrastructure spend has been lower than other parts of the country. and so having this one person that can pull together what will be important for derbyshire and nottinghamshire , the really big nottinghamshire, the really big infrastructure projects, you know , if you try to build know, if you try to build a bridge, you're not talking 5 million anymore. you're talking 18 million or 30 million. you're trying to do a new, junction onto one of the motorways. that's just seems phenomenal amounts of money. and we need to get people together to do it. but the important thing with ben was he was going to do exactly the same as ben houchen and andy street, and he wasn't going to charge a single penny of council tax. of course, labour are going to charge. i mean, in london, sadiq khan's, council tax is

absolutely heather wheeler . absolutely heather wheeler. >> i know why he's on a roll. she's on a roll. >> you want why you want one of your awning is completely natural. i get that, but you might have claire ward, and we'll know that within a couple of hours. the labour candidate just to sort of, i don't know, reassure enlightened people at home. you will still work with any mayor though, won't you? the reality is that the region will sort of come together. correct me if i'm wrong and work with whoever is elected this afternoon, i will certainly insist that the amazing deal that ben bradley negotiated with michael gove in local government about the future spend, i mean, just on its own, 170 million to sort out our roads, which everybody around here is screaming about the potholes. >> i will hold her feet to the fire if she wins that that money is going to be spent absolutely appropriately in derbyshire. >> well, that's what people care about. they want their money being spent well and efficiently and on good projects. and for those projects that are promised to actually happen, should we

zoom out a little bit and look at what today has been like for the conservatives as a whole ? a the conservatives as a whole? a bit of a bad day, really, isn't it? i mean, rishi sunak saying there will be hundreds of disappointed local councillors , disappointed local councillors, they've been let down by the leadership, haven't they? >> i'm not going to take that as the narrative for today. i'm afraid , i'm clearly hugely afraid, i'm clearly hugely disappointing for so many hard working candidates, hard working councillors, but when you pick up the number of conservatives that have got in in places like peterborough, where labour really, really ought to be slamming them, harlow i mean, for goodness sakes, we hang on to harlow. angela rayner and keir starmer were there, two days ago. am i holding a rally because they thought they'd won it? so, you know, i feel , you it? so, you know, i feel, you know, as a somebody who'd been a councillor for 20 years, both in london and up here in south derbyshire, yeah. i really feel for my colleagues. but the bigger picture is really low turnouts. >> well, the bigger picture is heather that keir starmer is

probably going to be in number 10 and the conservatives aren't doing anything about it. are they really failing when it comes to immigration? >> if you, look at the statistics that have come out today about the, immigration numbers absolutely phenomenally lower than they were just even a year ago, the, you know, the fact we've already got one person on the way up to rwanda, we've passed all the legal tests that we hope that. come on. he was given £3,000 and that's well and inflation down to 3.2, nearly down to 2. okay we can get the bank of england. >> we can we can do the list. and i don't blame you for saying it. but given things are so good according to, you know, according to, you know, according to, you know, according to your your what you tell us and what you how you see things, why not call a general election? >> i want to make sure interest rates come down. the bank of england are being incredibly careful with this. it could be that it has to be okay. >> so an improved economy interest rates down, and then you'll be happy for a general election. thank you so much

heather wheeler. so sorry we've come to the end of the hour. i'm sure we'll speak again very, very soon. we've got so much more coming up on the show today. more election results , today. more election results, more mayoral election results, local elections. what does it all mean ? well, that's the all mean? well, that's the question . question. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello. time for your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. a bit of a mish mash again today. lots of places grey with some heavy rain around , but it's a brighter day around, but it's a brighter day in the south and it's another mostly fine day across northern scotland. in between though, low pressure and weather fronts are providing a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain. some heavy downpours across parts of lincolnshire and yorkshire extending into the north midlands. the odd rumble of thunder maybe further north as well parts of northwest england, southwest scotland, but for much

of northern scotland, central scotland dry and fine, warmer spot likely to be western scotland, where we could get 2223 degrees elsewhere. a lot cooler with the cloud and the rain over these central areas. particularly chilly on some nonh particularly chilly on some north sea coast. but it is a brighter day across southernmost parts of england. better chance of staying fine and dry here and that dry, clearer weather will spread north as we go through the night. we'll keep outbreaks of rain going over much of wales , the midlands and northern england, parts of southern scotland and northern ireland to that northwestern corner staying dry and fine with the cloud that keeps the temperatures up in double digits. quite a chilly start, then to the long weekend in the south, but hopeful for a bit of sunshine here. actually. generally fine day tomorrow over south wales, southern england and east anglia. drying up process over northern england and the midlands too. but a grey day for much of the north. some rain, although nothing too heavy. again the highlands of scotland doing okay for some sunny spells and temperatures here in the high teens, but cooler where it stays fairly dull. bye for now. >> that warm feeling inside from

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gb news. well. >> good afternoon. britain. it's exactly 1:00 on friday, the 3rd of may. yes it is, and it's an election special this afternoon. >> we're up and down the country as the results continue to flood in. >> our local council results are coming in thick and fast as well as more mayoral results to come. while emily and i are on air. >> and it's been a truly bleak day for the conservatives and rishi sunak when it comes to those local election results that we've seen so far . the that we've seen so far. the former chancellor, kwasi kwarteng, says there's now no such thing as a tory safe seat. is it time up for the prime minister? >> they will no doubt be delighted to hold on to ben houchen, the tees valley mayor, and that has been declared about

20 minutes ago now. keir starmer , the late labour leader, claimed victory in blackpool as a giant step towards winning power. he's a labour government pretty much guaranteed. what would it mean for the country? >> yes, what would it mean? and so far it's been a solid performance for mr ed davey and the liberal democrats in the by—election results. so far. the party's retained councils, such as eastleigh and adding to their tally of councillors too. we'll hear from ed as well. it's interesting what you said, gloria, when we were saying that it's been a bleak day for the conservatives so far because yes, they will be clinging to that good result in that mayoral election in tees valley. ben houchen a third term, which is no small feat . no small feat. >> no, it's a huge result and i think the complicating or the

interesting thing about these particular election results is you start the morning with, with keir starmer being so absolutely ecstatic. this is a terrible, terrible night for the conservative. gives a whopping swing to for labour to take back that blackpool south seat after losing it to the tories in 2010. you move forward the day seven hours we are you know, the tories are celebrating the holding of the tees valley mayor now he was very he had a massive majority, ben houchen last time. but of course he's held on and labour would dearly have loved to have taken that but conceded defeat on that this morning, there is andy street . that's not there is andy street. that's not going to be counted until tomorrow and the tories could well hold on to that as well. so what started off as a fantastic morning for labour? by tomorrow afternoon it could feel like a very different story. and perhaps rishi sunak is safe . perhaps rishi sunak is safe. well, yes. >> well this is one of the

questions we want to put to you really? do you think it's time up for rishi sunak, or do you think these results are just about enough to keep the baying mobs of the backbench tory mps, the right wingers of the party? are they going to be kept at bay?it are they going to be kept at bay? it does seem like the likes of andrew jenkins have sort of softened their tone a little when it comes to exactly how he's going to be the leader. >> i think he's going to lead the tories into the next general election. time for your news headlines. >> good afternoon from the gb newsroom at 1:00. your top story this hour, the prime minister says the local election results have been disappointing after labour made significant gains. it comes after labour also won the by—election in blackpool south. labour's chris webb took the seat, beating conservative david jones in second. following a by—election caused by the resignation of tory scott benton, rishi sunak accepted that the results were less than

ideal that the results were less than ideal. obviously it's disappointing to lose good, hard working, conservative councillors and i'm grateful to them for all their service in local government, keeping council tax low and delivering services for local people. >> i am focused completely on the job at hand that's delivering for people across the country. if you just look at what we're doing in the last week or so alone, a £900 tax cut, hitting people's pay slips, the first failed asylum seeker off to rwanda , the reform uk off to rwanda, the reform uk candidate, mark butcher, came third, just 117 votes behind the conservatives. >> reform mp for ashfield, lee anderson, told gb news the party is making huge strides to get 16.9% in the by—election in blackpool. >> is absolutely fantastic. it's our best ever by—election result. i was thinking about 15, 16, just 100 or so votes behind the conservative candidate you know, with a few more resources, and a little bit, you know, with a few more resources, and a little bit , you know, know, with a few more resources, and a little bit, you know, more campaigning. maybe if we've got

more bodies up there, we'd probably pip the tories on this one. >> one. >> and conservative ben houchen has been re—elected as tees valley mayor, but with a reduced majority over labour in darlington, he polled 4000 votes more than labour's chris mcewan. lord houchen has already won more votes in hartlepool, redcar and middlesbrough . with just and middlesbrough. with just stockton still to be announced. >> i am absolutely humbled by everybody that voted for me , everybody that voted for me, teesside is a place where i was born. i grew up, other than a very short sabbatical to newcastle for four years, and then i came straight back. it's a place where i am going to be for the rest of my life, and to be re—elected for a third term in my home, in my community is absolutely the greatest honour that anybody could ever give me. so i want to thank anybody that voted for me . voted for me. >> labour's local election gains across england and wales include winning in key areas such as rushmoor in hampshire for the

first time. labour also won thurrock and hartlepool, but the tories held harlow . in other tories held harlow. in other news, a high court judge has ruled that the government's climate plan is unlawful. several environmental charities took joint legal action against the government, saying the strategy ignored the risk of missing targets in his judgement, mrjustice missing targets in his judgement, mr justice sheldon ruled the government's plan was not justified by the evidence . not justified by the evidence. ireland's prime minister has played down a row over migration with the uk government on his first official visit to northern ireland, as t shock . it first official visit to northern ireland, as t shock. it comes after rishi sunak offered ireland the chance to join the rwanda deportation scheme, rejecting ireland's demands to take back asylum seekers who had crossed from the north. but speaking after a meeting with the first and deputy first ministers of stormont, simon harris was quick to calm tensions . tensions. >> there's a need for a sense of

calm here. >> there's a need for a bit of a deep breath, we have a common travel area, between the two islands. that's a common travel area that's in place for a very long time, when both countries were in the european union . and were in the european union. and it's still in place now, when one country is within the european union and another isn't . and i'm determined to work as taoiseach constructively. to make sure that the common travel area is protected and that the common travel area is never abused. >> and defence secretary grant shapps and senior military leaders have been sanctioned by the iranian regime . two royal the iranian regime. two royal navy commanders who captained warships involved in shooting down houthi rebel drones and missiles in the red sea are included in the list. one of them, commander peter evans, is currently stationed in the red sea at the helm of hms diamond , sea at the helm of hms diamond, and king charles has been presented with an illustrated record of his coronation almost a year after the historic service. the king has praised

the team which created the document, saying you deserve a very stiff drink. he made the comments with the queen on wednesday , in his second public wednesday, in his second public facing event since his cancer diagnosis , ipsis. the document diagnosis, ipsis. the document follows a centuries old tradition of creating a handwritten record of the monarch's coronation but it's the first to use paper, not the usual animal skin, reflecting the animal welfare views of the king and for the latest stories , king and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. com slash alerts. >> thanks, sofia. thanks, sofia, but welcome back . we're on. good but welcome back. we're on. good afternoon britain on gb news and we're talking about local election results. >> lots to discuss with gp news's political correspondent kathy foster. catherine, your main takeaways from the results so far. it's a bit mixed, isn't

it ? it? >> you know, this morning it was all triumphant. >> exactly how terrible it was for the conservatives. it is still pretty terrible for the conservatives, let's face it. but they have had a bit of good news, haven't they, in the last hour with the news that ben houchen has held on as conservative mayor of tees valley now? okay, he had 70 over 70% of the vote last time. that's down to 53. but he's still got a majority of nearly 19,000. so of course he is over the moon. he is stressing his local connections. he born grew up in the area, says he will be there for the rest of his life , there for the rest of his life, he hasn't campaigned, of course, on a conservative ticket. he has campaigned very much on being ben houchen, bringing investment to the area . levelling up seems to the area. levelling up seems to the area. levelling up seems to be still alive and kicking

there at least. but hey rishi sunak, of course , will take as sunak, of course, will take as much credit for the conservatives as he possibly can, so this will have given the conservatives a boost. of course, the west midlands mayoralty looks to be on a knife edge. mayoralty looks to be on a knife edge . conservative andy street edge. conservative andy street defending that we won't get the results of that till tomorrow, too close to call apparently, though, some in labour seem to think that andy street will hold on and that their vote will have been depressed first, of course, by the scandal of birmingham council going bankrupt, a labour council and also, of course, by many muslim voters turning their back on the labour party because of the ongoing conflict in the middle east. so a mixed picture, but a little bit of good news for the prime minister, and possibly enough to keep those tory mps from sending in letters of no confidence . of no confidence. >> very interesting indeed, catherine. it is. it is quite

funny, isn't it, because we speak about the thai short , the speak about the thai short, the shy tory vote, lots of conservative guys don't like to broadcast the fact that they vote conservative at elections, but now even the candidates are being accused of hiding their allegiances. i mean, he claims he forgot his blue conservative rosette at the count. do you think he purposefully left it behind? well, who knows. >> but i mean, andy street two has very much campaigned on being andy's three, and i don't think it will do him any harm at all for the fact that, when rishi sunak went to manchester to tell manchester that hs2 was not, in fact, going to manchester, and andy street was very, very cross, there was some talk of him resigning . he did talk of him resigning. he did take a firm stance, so they are both they their own men. let's see what happens with andy street. of course we've got lots more results , from local council more results, from local council elections, police and crime

commissioners and mayoral elections to come over the next day. and the london one. we won't get that until tomorrow, but it is expected that sadiq khan will will stay on as london mayor. there >> i think the tories have been quite clever. catherine. in saying that the key results for them are keeping ben houchen in tees valley and keeping andy street in birmingham, which is certainly possible . well, certainly possible. well, although we won't know until tomorrow , are the tory? are tomorrow, are the tory? are rishi sunaks enemies or opponents within his party? are they? is it all over ? are they they? is it all over? are they sort of given up? he's going to lead them into the election because you've got to. it's one thing saying that you've got to have discipline. you've got to actually get behind him. otherwise, you know, there's no point in carrying on, scrapping but keeping him in position. what's your assessment of that ? what's your assessment of that? >> if i had to make a call, i would say that he's going to be okay. having said that, very

dangerous to make predictions after the chaos we've seen and the conservative party is capable of pretty much anything. i mean, they took out boris johnson, who of course had got them that 80 seat majority. they took out liz truss after just seven weeks. it's not impossible , but i don't think it's very likely. i mean, the one of the only mps that's admitted to putting in a letter of no confidence in the prime minister, dame andrea jenkyns. she came out this morning and basically admitted that she didn't think there would be that much of a move against the prime minister. i think if the conservatives had come second to reform in blackpool south, if they'd lost tees valley, if they go on to lose the west midlands , go on to lose the west midlands, things might look a bit different. but at the moment it sounding like and certainly most conservative mps. i speak to think it would be complete madness to change leader yet again, given they've been

through so many. and given that we are only a few months from a general election. but the conservative party chairman, richard holden, saying to mps, you know, just take the weekend , you know, just take the weekend, i'd take a bit of stock. and so i'd take a bit of stock. and so i think number 10 will be hopeful, but they're not quite out of the woods yet. >> well, you never know do you, mad things happen all the time in our in our political system. thank you so much. katherine forster. our political correspondent , there with us, correspondent, there with us, sadiq khan won't find out whether he's, clung on to the london mayor role till tomorrow. that's a big one. everyone's heard of sadiq khan . you may not heard of sadiq khan. you may not have heard of some of these regional mayors, but everyone's heard of sadiq khan. >> and what's interesting about sadiq khan is he's been consistently ahead in the polls. though the poll lead over the tories, susan hall, has narrowed, but he polls below the labour vote in london, whereas susan hall, the tory candidate, polls ahead of the tory london london, tory vote, if that makes

sense. so that makes it quite interesting. so he's not got the same, he's a bit more controversial , shall we say. controversial, shall we say. sadiq khan. >> he's very divisive. i think he's very well he has a divisive policy, the ulez. >> yeah. and i think that has defined as a person he is glory. >> i think it's fair to say. i think it's fair to say , go on think it's fair to say, go on glory. yeah. it's true. you know, she knows. it's true. >> i think that is down to, the ulez, which has been controversial and actually cost labour winning the uxbridge by—election. >> lots of ulez . and we are >> lots of ulez. and we are going to be talking to wes streeting, the shadow health secretary, a little later because he took a rather strong stance on twitter to try and get people not to vote for the conservative candidate in london, susan. susan hall i mean, susan hall just isn't as well known. she just isn't as well known. she just isn't as well known. >> that could be beneficial. >> that could be beneficial. >> work in her favour, could work in her favour, potentially . work in her favour, potentially. sadiq khan's putting out all this stuff saying, oh, there's been a very low turnout. there's been a very low turnout. there's been a very low turnout that makes it better for the conservatives >> a bit of knocking yesterday and apathy was quite big where i was knocking oh, gloria doing some knocking for stoke , the

some knocking for stoke, the lovely siddiq. >> we'll find that out tomorrow though, so you'll have to keep waiting, although we'll let you know if we hear any whispers about which way it's gone. well in the last hour, rishi sunak, the prime minister has spoken for the first time since the local election results began to be announced. >> this was just before the ben houchen result, though. but here's what he said a little while ago . while ago. >> obviously, it's disappointing to lose good, hard working conservative councillors and i'm grateful to them for all their service in local government, keeping council tax low and delivering services for local people. i am focused completely on the job at hand that's delivering for people across the country . if you just look at country. if you just look at what we're doing in the last week or so alone, a £900 tax cut, hitting people's pay slips, the first failed asylum seeker off to rwanda , that was the off to rwanda, that was the prime minister speaking before the ben houchen result. >> i was just saying to emily there, i bet you wish she'd waited till after that to record that clip. but there you go. now, to make sense of the results so far, we're joined by the founder of electoral

calculus, martin baxter. martin tell us your big take away from the results so far and whether actually you lot the pollsters, did you get it right. >> well, the straightforward story is really the apparent story, which is that the conservatives are losing votes and losing seats in all directions to labour and to the other parties. so blackpool south was, an interesting one in comparison with the polls , comparison with the polls, because that was very much in line with what, we predicted on wednesday for blackpool south, just based on mrp polling and the national polls. so in a way thatis the national polls. so in a way that is , the headline is bad for that is, the headline is bad for the conservatives because that confirms that the polls are roughly right and that labour are points and points ahead at the moment in the polls, labour are about 20% ahead, which is larger even than tony blair's, margin of victory over john major in 1997. so the polls have been consistently had very bad news for the conservatives if

you're looking for a little bit of silver lining for the conservatives, yes, there is the ben houchen in teesside. and also the fact that blackpool was very much almost spot on the poll predictions, whereas by elections normally are more even more against the government than polls are, because it's sort of a free shot for people to protest and vote against the government. so there's a tiny bit of a silver lining there. but that's really the difference between catastrophic and disastrous for the conservatives at the moment. on the other hand, across the rest of the local, election results are still coming in. so there's still coming in. so there's still quite a lot, to many more results to come. but the results so far, the conservatives losing seats and that's going not all to labour, only some of it to laboun to labour, only some of it to labour, but to the other parties as well . so the story continues, as well. so the story continues, as well. so the story continues, as the polls say, of conservative unpopularity and labour sort of grudging gains for labour, but not not overwhelming for labour yet. but on the back of the polls it would be labour are doing very well. and keir starmer, i'm sure, will be pleased with today , testament just to say that welwyn hatfield remains under no

overall control. >> conservatives losing ten seats there. labour gaining eight to liberal democrats two. very interesting , yes. labour very interesting, yes. labour with 20 seats in that particular council but no overall control. >> they'll be hoping to take that won't they. at the next election. well in hatfield i think that's grant shapps. is that grant shapps. sorry, i was, i was bringing you back martin baxter. apologies >> sorry, yeah. so labour will be particularly pleased by gains in the south and south—east of england because that's areas where, you know, back in the days of large conservative majorities, they were almost expelled from those areas outside london. so winning councils in the south of england is very good news for labour, and also we'll see if they can take some back in the red wall as well , but take some back in the red wall as well, but yeah, take some back in the red wall as well , but yeah, let's not as well, but yeah, let's not forget that other parties are doing well as well. and that really the story overall is the conservatives repelling voters who are going in all directions , who are going in all directions, both leftwards towards labour,

the lib dems and the greens, but also right with further right towards reform , and we'll maybe towards reform, and we'll maybe see more of that story later on this afternoon . this afternoon. >> thank you very much indeed. martin baxter from electoral calculus. and i, i know that you're available to join us again throughout the afternoon, which is fantastic. >> yes. great assessment there. of what is all going on. keep your views coming in. please do gbnews.com forward slash yours. we will come to some some more in a little in a little bit. but coming up the broadcasting legend it is alastair stewart himself. he joins us live in the studio . we're going to continue studio. we're going to continue on with our special local election coverage. you're with gb news, with britain's election

channel. >> good afternoon. britain. it is 123 on may the 3rd, and you're with me. gloria de piero

and emily carver for some exciting election results which will keep coming. we've got another couple of big ones in the next hour or so. but joining us now to discuss the local election results from aldershot is gb news reporter ray addison . is gb news reporter ray addison. ray, big night there . ray, big night there. >> yeah. the results came in about 3 am. this morning and labour very keen to paint this as a historic victory for them. well why is that? because aldershot of course is an army town, a garrison town. it's been home to the parachute regiment over the years and around 70 other organisations as well. military branches. two now, of course, this very much is part of the blue wall. as one person was saying to me at the general election, all the soldiers are going to come out and they're going to come out and they're going to come out and they're going to vote tory. however, at the moment labour is celebrating its victory because it gained nine of 13 available seats that were up and available in this local council election. rushmoor borough council election and now

have control of that council now. conservatives are partly blaming reform. they're saying that if the reform, candidate hadnt that if the reform, candidate hadn't been on the ticket, then those votes, most of which would have gone to them, would have meant that they had would have won. i've added up the votes . won. i've added up the votes. that's actually correct. assuming those votes go back to the tories , that they would have the tories, that they would have had two more seats. and i do not believe labour would have had that majority. but labour saying that majority. but labour saying that if they can win a military town like this, then that really shows that the old associations, maybe going back to the days of corbyn as leader, have been wiped clean. now, quite a low turnout , wiped clean. now, quite a low turnout, only around 34% and quite a lot of apathy from people here in the town centre very, very much a struggle to find anyone who had actually voted. two people that i did manage to find did say that they voted labour, but admitting that they didn't so much for vote

labour describes, despite describing themselves as lefties , but they just voted against the conservatives. and so, although labour very much keen to big this up and say it's an indication of things to come from the people that i've spoken to here, it's really hard to tell ray addison in aldershot, thank you very much indeed. >> we'll chat later. no doubt. >> we'll chat later. no doubt. >> that's a bruising defeat, isn't it? there for the conservatives i should say. >> speaking of bruising defeats for the conservatives, it is sort of sources . labour sources sort of sources. labour sources are reporting there's a new position today which is the east midlands mayor, not another mayor, not. she loves them, nottinghamshire and derbyshire. and it is reported that the labour candidate, claire ward, has won there . as soon as we get has won there. as soon as we get confirmation of that, of course we'll bring it. but there are, various sources, good sources on social media. >> yes, i should say that i don't have a particular problem with the east midlands having a mayor. i'm just sceptical about these mayoral positions . anyway, these mayoral positions. anyway, i think they just end up promoting, you know, second,

third rate, fourth rate politicians and they have quite a lot of power sometimes. but hey, we're each to their own. let us know what do you make of, mayoral positions? perhaps you love a mayor >> the mayoral thing. just lovely to hear ray capturing it perfectly there in aldershot. and to underline the brilliant contribution you had from martin baxter just a moment ago, the number cruncher, where he talked about labour's grudging gains. and i thought it was intriguing that ray addison, who is a brilliant reporter, said here i am walking around the streets of aldershot and labour gain in rushmoor. never heard of before, blah blah blah blah blah blah , blah blah blah blah blah blah, and very few putting their hand up the swing that dare not speak its name didn't happen in harlow . if labour don't really harvest in a lot more of these councils in a lot more of these councils in the south of england , as ray in the south of england, as ray called it, the blue wall, then starmer is talking out of the back of his head when he talks about a seismic change, because

it ain't happened yet. and there's a lot more to come before he can really, seriously say it on the mayoralty, it's interesting that the spin doctors have been incredibly busy. labour were talking up the fact that hitchin had won, tees valley and they're also, i think, talking up andy street's chances in, in west midlands, and in his acceptance speech, which i thought was brilliant and well worth people looking out for, we're running it online. he talked about the economy and as, as bill clinton's famous adviser said, it's the economy, stupid . and it's the economy, stupid. and ben said, what we really need in our neck of the woods is we need more investment. we need more jobs. and don't forget that growth was one of the key things that rishi sunak pledged when he took over as prime minister. ben knows that one of the things i hear from a lot of people, particularly in their early mid 20s, youngsters of my own two older children , are talking older children, are talking about the sheer incompetence of

government , the fact that government, the fact that nothing seems to work well. ben is the kind of guy who makes things work, and he knows that if you haven't got a vibrant economy with growth, then it's not going to create any wealth to distribute . so that's where to distribute. so that's where sunak needs to really keep his fingers crossed that american interest rates might come down. they were talking about that this morning. then british interest rates need to come down very quickly to get that feel good factor coming back in. and ben is the man to lead that rallying cry. in my view, alistair , it sounds like you alistair, it sounds like you think there's all to play for. i don't think there's all to play for. i think there's a lot to play for. i think there's a lot to play for . and that interview play for. and that interview that that you both ran at the beginning of your segment with the prime minister where he said he was attending a passing out parade for young soldiers. he said it was disappointing, not only for the conservative party, but there were pockets of disappointment for labour. he mentioned harlow, which i've mentioned harlow, which i've mentioned times and time again, my own view is that that we've

talked a lot on gb news about the cost of living crisis, and there is a limit amount, limited amount that the government can do about it. but we know historically that it is only a government that brings in that feel good factor that will win. it's what blair did as well. it's what blair did as well. it's what blair did as well. it's what cameron did . and don't it's what cameron did. and don't forget, crucially, cameron, who everybody had written off in the 90s, came back initially via a coalition but then won an overall majority . he sits around overall majority. he sits around that cabinet table with rishi sunak now and rishi would be well advised to listen to cameron on tactics and strategy. >> we we'll always listen to alastair stewart on tactics and strategy . thank you. strategy. thank you. >> yeah, they could do with some of this spirit gung ho, you know, get to the job. it's true that ben houchen he talks a lot about growth investment business infrastructure getting things going. >> street saunders andy burnham i mean come on i mean labour now the press association now

actually reporting that labour has declared victory in the east midlands a new post. so none of that incumbency that we've been talking about, which the current, the existing mayors have been able to fight on their record or not, as sadiq khan a quick one. >> can i just back east? >> can i just back east? >> you can always come in. >> you can always come in. >> east midlands is particularly interesting because there's a labour split there as well because the, the, the candidate jamie, that's the north east, that's , that is the north east. sorry. >> i beg your pardon but you're right . there is a split there. right. there is a split there. the jamie driscoll, the existing jamie driscoll stood as an independent. >> so that would be particularly interesting to watch. but if labour have conceded andy street's victory, then that that really will just hint at a smile on sunak's face because street would echo almost everything that ben said in his acceptance speech well, you wait till tomorrow for the official, west midlands results. >> but the east midlands, the reports are that labour has taken that. we'll bring you the formal declaration, which should be in about half an hour. an

hour? yeah. >> we'll bring it to you as live. but let's quickly get your headlines. we'll be back in a . tick. >> it's 133. tick. >> it's133. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . your in the gb newsroom. your headlines. the prime minister says the local election results have been disappointing after labour made significant gains. it comes after labour also won the by—election in blackpool south. labour's chris webb took the seat, beating conservative david jones in second following a by—election caused by the resignation of tory scott benton, rishi sunak accepted that the results were less than ideal >> obviously it's disappointing to lose good, hard working conservative councillors and i'm grateful to them for all their service in local government, keeping council tax low and delivering services for local people. i am focused completely on the job at hand that's delivering for people across the country. if you just look at what we're doing in the last

week or so alone, a £900 tax cut, hitting people's pay slips, the first failed asylum seeker off to rwanda , conservative ben off to rwanda, conservative ben houchen, has been re—elected as tees valley mayor but with a reduced majority over labour in darlington, he polled 4000 votes more than labour's chris mcewan . more than labour's chris mcewan. >> lord houchen has already won more votes in hartlepool , redcar more votes in hartlepool, redcar and middlesbrough, with just stockton still to be announced. labour's local election gains across england and wales include winning in key areas such as rushmoor in hampshire for the first time. labour also won thurrock and hartlepool, but the tories held harlow . and a high tories held harlow. and a high court judge has ruled that the government's climate plan is unlawful. several environmental charities took joint legal action against the government, saying the strategy ignored the risk of missing targets . saying the strategy ignored the risk of missing targets. in his judgement, mrjustice risk of missing targets. in his judgement, mr justice sheldon ruled the government's plan was

not justified by the evidence . not justified by the evidence. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen , or the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. com slash alerts . go to gb news. com slash alerts. >> cheers! >> cheers! >> britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report , and here's a quick report, and here's a quick snapshot of today's markets . snapshot of today's markets. >> the pound will buy you $1.2560 and >> the pound will buy you 151.2560 and ,1.1686. >> the pound will buy you $1.2560 and ,1.1686. the price of gold is £1,830.91 per ounce, and the ftse 100 are 8212 points. >> cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report

i >> right. emma m >> right. it's 137. this >> right. it's137. this is good afternoon. britain with me, emily and gloria. now, a big result . keir starmer says it's result. keir starmer says it's a massive win in the blackpool south by—election. he says it's seismic, even seismic. >> here is the labour leader speaking this morning. it is, of course, the most important election result in the sense that it's a direct message to the prime minister because this is a parliamentary seat. >> that's a 26% swing, that's a huge swing, and it's the fifth swing of over 20% in by elections that we've had in recent months and years. so it's not a one off. it's no denying that the mood of the country now is for change. and i think it's for the prime minister to allow the country to express that change. now in a general election, you . election, you. >> well, that was keir starmer. he reiterated the fact. well, it's a big swing. he said that definitely a big swing but definitely a big swing but definitely a big swing. >> you know low turnout as by

elections always are low turnout. >> what does it mean. we're joined by political correspondent olivia utley who's in blackpool. olivia you've changed location again. love it, olivia we have. keir starmer. >> she's not going far from that pleasure beach, though, is she? >> not far from the pleasure beach. keir starmer says this is a big win. seismic huge swing he's talking about. that's all true . true. >> it is. it's absolutely true. there has been an enormous swing away from the conservative party towards the labour party, a swing of 26% just a few years ago that would be pretty much unheard of. and yet now it's happened five times in recent months and years. this is one of six swings actually over 20% that we've seen since the 2019 general election. and as keir starmer said in that clip there, this isn't some sort of anomaly. this is happening time and time again. there is a pattern, and it does look as though keir starmer's route to number 10 is

looking pretty smooth at the moment. the only fly in the ointment, perhaps for labour, is that turnout was low. turnout is often low in by elections, but it was very low here, just 32. and it sounds as though turnout was pretty low across the country. similarly, in local elections, although there was a big, big swing away from labour, although labour lost seats up and the conservatives lost seats up and down the country in about half of cases, labour didn't actually win them. they went to independent on the and the councils went to no overall control. that suggests perhaps that labour is winning, not because people love what keir starmer is offering, or because people have fallen in love with keir starmer, the man, but because they are fed up with the conservatives. how much does that matter to the labour party right now? probably not very much. keir starmer's ducks are all in a row. we are looking at all in a row. we are looking at a catastrophic pick, almost definitely a conservative defeat in the general election, perhaps in the general election, perhaps in a few years time later, down

the line, it will be a problem for keir starmer that people aren't particularly enamoured by his policies. but at the moment, for whatever reason, people are voting labour and that is enough. >> conservative mps who haven't , >> conservative mps who haven't, been as loyal as they might be to their leaders in recent years, but it seems, am i right to say they have accepted, that rishi sunak is going to lead them into the next election? the grumbling seems to have diminished. there's not much of it around today. >> i think so i think what's happened is, although of course, this has been a really disastrous night for the conservatives, it hasn't been quite as disastrous as some were predicting the rebels were going to act. predicting the rebels were going to act if predicting the rebels were going to act. if one of a number of things happened. one of those things happened. one of those things was ben houchen losing tees valley. there was a big swing away from the conservatives but ben houchen just about held on another sort of sticking point for the rebels would have been if reform had come second to labour in

blackpool south. well, that didn't quite happen either. in fact, the conservatives beat reform only by 117 votes. but beat them nonetheless. thirdly, it looks as though, although we don't have a certain result yet, that andy street will be holding on to the west midlands. if he had lost that seat, then that that probably would have been a moment for the rebels to start pushing ahead. andy street may have only held on to the west midlands seat because . because midlands seat because. because the gaza issue seemed to have split the left vote in half, and it looks as though there wasn't a huge turnout for labour there. so it's not a particularly pretty picture for the conservatives even those three sort of partial wins aren't particularly impressive, but it probably is enough to give a sort of comfort blanket to rishi sunak. and for now at least , to sunak. and for now at least, to see the rebels off. >> yes, i mean, there have been some, some vocal tory voices in the media who, haven't been too friendly to rishi sunak. kwasi kwarteng, for example, the former former chancellor under

liz truss, he's saying there's no safe seats anymore for the tories. he was basically talking up how badly they're doing. is that just, sour grapes ? that just, sour grapes? >> i think almost all conservative mps are, are happy to acknowledge now. well, not happy, but content to acknowledge that the conservatives are doing very badly indeed. it's more that the rebels have realised that probably whatever happens, the conservatives are going to do badly and it isn't the moment to get rid of rishi sunak. the rebels, most of them believe that even without rishi sunak as prime minister, the conservatives would probably lose. they felt that it might have been worth a sort of deposing him at the last minute in order to mitigate the damage and try for a for a relatively healthy vie, minority, a relatively healthy opposition . relatively healthy opposition. they think maybe now they might be able to get a sort of relatively healthy opposition at the next general election, but they are pretty certain they're going to lose. there isn't much enthusiasm wherever you look for

rishi sunak, it's only a question of, well, it's probably better to hold on to him than to have a fourth conservative leader in as many years . leader in as many years. >> certainly is. >> certainly is. >> morale is a bit low, isn't it? >> probably. >> probably. >> probably. >> probably , yeah. damned if >> probably, yeah. damned if they do, damned if they don't. thank you. olivia utley. excellent analysis as ever. >> it is interesting. i guess it's just because it's getting closer and closer to that general election date , whenever general election date, whenever it will be. and there just isn't the time to depose another leader , is there? leader, is there? >> i just you just look ridiculously if you're going to keep me have to get behind him, that's your best chance. >> they need to do that. i've been elected as politicians in the house of commons. you know , the house of commons. you know, anneliese try and put on a face. at least try and seem enthusiastic about your prospects and talk it up and all of this. go for it. why not? what have they got to lose? >> divided parties, just like button it until the next election. who knows what will happen. nothing's ever guaranteed in politics, so i do. i know that as you know, having spent so long and so long in the labour party, i do think kwasi kwarteng was trying to stick the boot in. well, he said he said it before ben houchen was

saying, weren't we. yeah sort of. these results are coming in waves. terrible for the tories, better for the tories, you know, and what labour are going to do about this whole gaza issue. >> i mean, it's certainly affected oldham. yeah. that vote. so we'll see. we'll talk about that a little bit more later. but up next we're going to have a look at the liberal democrats. how did they perform in the local elections. they normally do quite well. so are they breaking through.

>> good afternoon. britain the time is 148 on may. the third. lots of election results coming from . what did i say? from. what did i say? >> you know, i was just adding. i was adding that it's friday. happy it's friday. why not. but, yes, but we're not getting a lot of results till tomorrow . no, of results till tomorrow. no, but there are lots coming

through today in this specific. >> two big ones tomorrow, isn't it. we got we got the west midlands mayor and the london mayor. but you're going to get the east midlands mayor very soon. and the, york and north yorkshire mayor pretty soon. and the north eastern mayor. i've got it. yes. >> all of this hopefully we're going to tell you about all of those in the next hour or so. >> lots of regional mayors and lots of analysis here. but, the liberal democrats , they deserve liberal democrats, they deserve a mention. it's been a fairly modest day for them so far in today's local elections, shall we speak about the party's performance with the former lib dem chairman , mark oaten, mark, dem chairman, mark oaten, mark, how what's your assessment of, the liberal democrats and their performance this time around, i mean, so far , i'd say they mean, so far, i'd say they wouldn't be popping the champagne yet, wouldn't be popping the champagne yet , not that they champagne yet, not that they tend to have champagne. it's more like cider and beer with that lot. but i think what they will be a little bit of prosecco, maybe a little bit

cheapen prosecco, maybe a little bit cheaper, i think what they'll be looking for is looking to see what happens in these big rural seats. you've got to remember that where the lib dems are hoping to make the big breakthrough are seats in the south west, where, you know, you've got polling stations in the middle of nowhere, in pubs, in the back of cars and vans. it takes forever for these votes to be counted. a lot of those seats are still to come in so far. i think they'll be happy . at the think they'll be happy. at the moment they're looking like they're taking more seats than they're taking more seats than the conservatives on the night, so that puts them in second place. but i would suspect that they're a little bit nervous. they want to see whether they can actually make the gains in elmbridge, tunbridge wells, woking, woking . so it's a little woking, woking. so it's a little bit too early to say whether it's a fantastic night, but it seems at the moment to be steady as you go. do you know, i think you might have, solved the voter turnout problem . turnout problem. >> polling stations in pubs. wow. anyway that sounds marvellous. coming up everywhere i was going to ask you, keir starmer is quite popular in the

sorts of seats where you would have traditionally, your party would have traditionally been popular. it's called the blue wall, now. but people quite like him down there, perhaps more so than in some of the northern working class bits actually, of the country. how problematic is keir starmer for you? >> i think that he's popular is actually helpful. >> i'll tell you for why. what we found in 2019 was that a lot of people that wanted to vote lib dem were really scared of jeremy corbyn and a left wing labour party, and so that meant they stayed with the conservatives. >> it was just too risky to try anything else, right? they're not scared of keir starmer . they not scared of keir starmer. they actually would be prepared to vote for the liberal democrats without a fear that nationally maybe labour would get in. so in many ways it actually helps. what i don't find when i knock on doorsteps is any particular enthusiasm for starmer in the way there was back in 97. for blair, i think it helps the party that he is at least seen as a moderate, safe figure . as a moderate, safe figure. >> mark the liberal democrats,

at least they're a social media team, are making a lot of the fact that now, lord david cameron, the foreign secretary, former prime minister now has a lib dem councillor. this is in chadlington and churchill ward in west oxfordshire , yes. in west oxfordshire, yes. they're having a bit of a giggle about that. but is that, is that about that. but is that, is that a significant . a significant. >> well, it's jeremy clarkson as well. is going to have a liberal councillor in west oxfordshire, look, those are the kind of seats where you would expect them to be making a breakthrough at this stage . and they're also at this stage. and they're also not necessarily in cameron's seat, but moving forward , it's seat, but moving forward, it's those kind of profile seats that the party would hope to take at the party would hope to take at the next general election. so what the analysts will be looking at in the party is do these council election results map in terms of transferring over to target seats in the next election ? then the answer, it election? then the answer, it seems at the moment is yes. no big surprises. they're also holding, seats like my old parliamentary seat in winchester. they've held onto the council. they're making

gains. also in watford, where i was a councillor. they've made gains there, so they're on target in the seats that they need to be on target for, to take at the next general election. and that's what will matter most to them tonight . matter most to them tonight. >> mark, i want to talk to you about tactical voting . there about tactical voting. there will there is we know there is an anti—tory section of the pubuc an anti—tory section of the public who just want will vote for either labour or the liberal democrat, depending on who they think is most likely to depose the tory. now, how helpful is it if in some of these seats, the liberal democrats are putting leaflets through people's doors saying only the lib dems can beat the tories here. meanwhile, labour are putting leaflets through those same people's door saying only labour can beat the tories here. don't you have to sort of come up to with some arrangement? otherwise the voters are going to get quite confused actually, and you might end up getting the tory re—elected . haha. re—elected. haha. >> yeah. my experience is that if you've lived in a constituency for, you know,

five, ten years, after a while you pretty well know because you've seen the results last time. who is in second place? and so most voters who want to get rid of the tories. and at the moment it would seem like 80% of the population do. they're pretty savvy. they can look and see who came second, and they generally will go for the party that came second. i think the challenge for the lib dems is can they get that message across in those individual constituencies when at the same time , day in, day at the same time, day in, day out, always seeing a polls showing the labour party so, so far ahead and the lib dems just on 8 or 9 or 10. so you have to work really hard in those seats to say, hang on a minute. i know labour are high in the polls. i know the lib dems are low, but in this particular seat we came second last time and we can actually overturn the conservatives. that's quite a hard message for the lib dems, but they're great on the doorstep. they pump out these leaflets , they activists, and leaflets, they activists, and that's ultimately what's wins them many, many seats. because of course, if you think about it

based on eight and 10, they wouldn't win any seats. absolutely >> mark, we're going to have to leave it there. mark oaten, former lib dem chairman great to speak to you. we've got loads more coming up. we're going to show you that rather shocking tweet from the shadow health secretary, wes streeting. i'd like to get your opinion on it. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello. time for your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. a bit of a mish mash again today. lots of places grey with some heavy rain around, but it's a brighter day in the south and it's another mostly fine day across northern scotland. in between though, low pressure and weather fronts are providing a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain. some heavy downpours across parts of lincolnshire and yorkshire extending into the north midlands . the odd rumble of midlands. the odd rumble of thunder maybe further north as well parts of north west

england, south—west scotland but for much of northern scotland, central scotland dry and fine. warmer spot likely to be western scotland , where we could get scotland, where we could get 2223 degrees elsewhere. a lot cooler with the cloud and the rain over these central areas. particularly chilly on some nonh particularly chilly on some north sea coast, but it is a brighter day across southernmost parts of england. better chance of staying fine and dry here and that dry, clearer weather will spread north as we go through the night. we'll keep outbreaks of rain going over much of wales, the midlands and northern england, parts of southern scotland and northern ireland to that northwestern corner staying dry and fine with the cloud that keeps the temperatures up in double digits. quite a chilly start, then to the long weekend in the south, but hopeful for a bit of sunshine here. actually generally fine day tomorrow over south wales, southern england and east anglia. drying up process over northern england and the midlands too. but a grey day for much of the north. some rain, although nothing too heavy . again, the highlands of scotland doing okay for some sunny spells and temperatures here in the high teens, but cooler where it stays fairly dull. bye for now.

>> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it is exactly 2:00 on friday, the 3rd of may. >> and it is, of course, an election special. today we're up and down the country. election results continue to come in. local council results, mayoral elections. something for everyone. >> yeah, we've got a couple of results. we think coming up in our airtime and some great interviews too. >> we do indeed. now it is a truly bleak day for the conservatives in some parts. in some results for rishi sunak former chancellor kwasi kwarteng stuck the boot in a little bit and says there's no such thing as a tory safe seat anymore. is it time up for the prime minister or all? a couple of wins. will that do him well ? wins. will that do him well? >> and keir starmer claims victory in blackpool as a giant step towards winning power is

the labour government pretty much nailed on? what could it mean for the country? we'll be talking to labour's wes streeting later in the show. >> the question and conservatives. >> they're blaming reform for splitting their vote. we're going to get some more reaction on that in just a few moments. what's the game plan for reform here? they're taking votes away from the tories, taking votes away from labour. still, maybe. >> now, as expected predicted labour have had a pretty successful night in the local elections and also in that parliamentary by—election in blackpool south. but a 26% swing, swing . soon we will be swing, swing. soon we will be speaking to the shadow health secretary wes streeting. >> yes, we will indeed. and, one question i want to ask wes. i'm sure wes will want to talk about all the stonking victories in the local elections and some of the local elections and some of the mayoral candidates, but i

want to ask you about this, this shocking tweet that he posted in support of, sadiq khan . he said support of, sadiq khan. he said a win for susan hall and the conservatives is a win for racists, white supremacists and islamophobes the world over , islamophobes the world over, susan hall's campaign has been fought from the gutter with dangerous and divisive politics. london. we cannot let her win vote. sadiq gloria, what do you make of this? >> i know as well i like wes very much. i think he's a very, very much. i think he's a very, very one of labour's most impressive figures . and i was impressive figures. and i was really shocked. this tweet , really shocked. this tweet, which was posted yesterday or the day before , it just struck the day before, it just struck me as incredibly unrwa. the day before, it just struck me as incredibly unrwa . wes, me as incredibly unrwa. wes, like having said that, i haven't seen i need to check, but i don't think he's he's withdrawn. it but i'm looking forward to chatting to him about it because the worst that i know is not really very divisive or particularly divisive , character particularly divisive, character when it comes to to, a

ridiculous thing to say, though, isn't it? >> yes it is. that's a ridiculous thing to say. so everyone who votes for susan hall is somehow a white supremacist . okay, what about supremacist. okay, what about the ethnic minority people of all backgrounds who may stick their cross in the conservative box?i their cross in the conservative box? i mean, is, is shaun bailey who presumably is voting has voted for susan hall. is he a white supremacist now? i mean , white supremacist now? i mean, it's it is. >> i know you want to have a fight with me. >> i agree with you. >> i agree with you. >> you agree? it's. yes, but you're disappointed and i'm horrified. >> well, it takes two parents to do it properly . do it properly. >> that's true, that's true, that's true. >> i'm. both sides of parenting will be on display now. wes streeting into me. >> i mean, how can you talk about dangerous and divisive politics? and then use those kind of words to describe susan hall? i mean, let us know what you think. gb views gbnews.com/yoursay is how you get in touch with us. i just think this is, you know, student union politics. if you just chuck these words around, like, white supremacist and, and all this, they lose their meaning,

don't they, gloria? >> oh , it's 1403. we're going to >> oh, it's 1403. we're going to be continuing this even though she wants a five. but we do actually agree with each other first. it is time for the news with sophia wenzler. >> thank you. gloria. good afternoon. it's 2:02. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . the wenzler in the gb newsroom. the prime minister says the local election results have been disappointing after labour made significant gains. it comes after labour also won the by—election in blackpool south. labour's chris webb took the seat, beating conservative david jones in second following a by—election caused by the resignation of tory scott benton, rishi sunak accepted that the results were less than ideal. ideal >> obviously it's disappointing to lose good, hard working conservative councillors and i'm grateful to them for all their service in local government, keeping council tax low and delivering services for local people. i am focused completely

on the job at hand that's delivering for people across the country . if you just look at country. if you just look at what we're doing in the last week or so alone, a £900 tax cut, hitting people's pay slips, the first failed asylum seeker off to rwanda , the reform uk off to rwanda, the reform uk candidate, mark butcher, came third, just 117 votes behind the conservatives. >> reform party leader richard tice told gb news the party is making huge strides . making huge strides. >> we succeeded with our best ever by—election result by some margin, significantly ahead of our national polling average. many people in the media have now got egg on their face. they said we couldn't do it. you know, we were a virtual party. well, we've just proven them completely and utterly wrong . completely and utterly wrong. and labour's local election gains across england and wales include winning in key areas such as rushmoor and hampshire for the first time. >> labour also won thurrock and hartlepool, but the tories held harlow . conservative ben houchen

harlow. conservative ben houchen has been re—elected as t valley mayor but with a reduced majority over labour in darlington. he polled 4000 votes more than labour's chris mcewan . more than labour's chris mcewan. lord houchen has already won more votes in hartlepool , redcar more votes in hartlepool, redcar and middlesbrough, with just stockton still to be announced. >> i am absolutely humbled by everybody that voted for me. teesside is a place where i was born. i grew up other than a very short sabbatical to newcastle for four years, and then i came straight back . it's then i came straight back. it's a place where i am going to be for the rest of my life, to and be re—elected for a third term in my home, in my community, is absolutely the greatest honour that anybody could ever give me. so i want to thank anybody that voted for me. >> and in other news, a high court judge has ruled that the government's climate plan is unlawful . while several unlawful. while several environmental charities took joint legal action against the government, saying the strategy ignored the risk of missing

targets. in his judgement, mr justice sheldon ruled the government's plan was not justified by the evidence . justified by the evidence. ireland's prime minister has played down a row over migration with the uk government on his first official visit to northern ireland as taoiseach. it comes after rishi sunak offered ireland the chance to join the rwanda deportation scheme, rejecting ireland's demands to take back asylum seekers who had crossed from the north. but speaking after a meeting with the first and deputy first ministers of stormont, simon. simon harris was quick to calm tensions. >> there's a need for a sense of calm here and there's a need for a bit of a deep breath and we have a common travel area between the two islands. that's a common travel area that's in place for a very long time. when both countries were in the european union , and it's still european union, and it's still in place now when one country is within the european union and another isn't. and i'm determined to work as taoiseach constructively and to make sure that the common travel area is

protected and that the common travel area is never abused . travel area is never abused. >> and defence secretary grant shapps and senior military leaders have been sanctioned by the iranian regime. two royal navy commanders who captained warships involved in shooting down houthi rebel drones and missiles in the red sea are included in the list . one of included in the list. one of them, commander peter evans, is currently stationed in the red sea at the helm of hms diamond . sea at the helm of hms diamond. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts . to gb news. common alerts. >> thanks, sophia . welcome back >> thanks, sophia. welcome back to good afternoon britain on gb news. it's 208. >> the declaration for east midlands mayor. it's a new position and it is imminent. joining us now is gb news

reporter will hollis, who can hopefully give us a sneak preview. tell us about the atmosphere in that count. will >> yes. well, the good news, i suppose , when you're waiting for suppose, when you're waiting for an election declaration, is when people stop counting, which is largely happened here in nottingham. the bad news, i suppose, is that this is 17 different local authority areas thatis different local authority areas that is making up the east midlands combined county authority from across nottinghamshire , where we are nottinghamshire, where we are today, and also neighbouring derbyshire . so we are going to derbyshire. so we are going to be waiting for all of those declarations to come into this central point before we know who has been elected for the very first time as the brand new regional mayor here in the east midlands for a long time, this part of the midlands has been shouting about underfunding and underrepresentation . they often underrepresentation. they often look at what's happened in the west midlands, in places in the

north, in metro areas as well as in london, and say, why can't we have that? in fact, somebody has just starting to speak now. ultimately, what it's about is about bringing powers to the local area, transport and the local area, transport and the local economy in particular. the word that we're hearing on the ground from labour sources is that labour thinks they've clinched it for the candidate, clare ward. but we are still waiting and while we were expecting the declaration to happen, any minute now, it seems like it will surely be at least another hour before we know who will be taking that position on as the east midlands very first mayor. >> well, that's labour are looking in a strong position . looking in a strong position. there's no result until there's a result. but, those are the rumours on social media that labour think they are going to comfortably win . are you hearing comfortably win. are you hearing that ? that? >> yes. well, that seems to be what we're hearing is the

rumours on the ground as well as onune rumours on the ground as well as online as well. labour is incredibly confident as they have been going into many of these different elections, particularly going into places like blackpool, where they won a landslide. now the real test here is looking at what happens, particularly in the smaller local authorities, where independent candidates and newer parties like the reform party might traditional do very well, including in places like ashfield, where until very recently they had a conservative mp. now they have, of course, lee anderson, a reform mp. so what happens at the east midlands, east midlands regional level won't necessarily dictate what might happen in those smaller local authorities where often people feel disassociated with the main parties and disassociated with politics. >> very interesting indeed. will please do bring us any updates as you as you get them, just

very quickly. what do we know about clare ward, the labour candidate? we get to hear whether she's won or not, but it looks very likely , i'm just looks very likely, i'm just having a look at her, her twitter lots about creating jobs, lots about apprenticeships and new roads and transport and all this. she's thanking support from the trade unions to . from the trade unions to. >> yes. well, clare ward has a long history in politics. going back more than 20 years. she held a place in tony blair's government. and, sorry, it's just gone a little bit quiet here as well. so held a place in tony blair's government as the mp for watford. and then she took some time out. right now what she's been doing is she's been working as the chair of the local hospital, the sherwood forest hospital trust. but a lot of labour candidates do rely on the support of trade unions, and i imagine it's probably very similar for clare ward. and that connection is something that she probably wants to bring to the east midlands. >> and how can you tell anything of any body language from ben

bradley's team, the conservative candidate? he's also the member of parliament for mansfield, since 0 2015, i think, so , so since 0 2015, i think, so, so can you get any body language from the tory team in there ? from the tory team in there? >> yes. well, the interesting thing about ben bradley is he was the original red wall mp going blue before 2019. it was i think 2017 that labour in mansfield , a traditional coal mansfield, a traditional coal mining town, went to the labour party for the very first time. he's not just an mp, he's also the county council leader for nottinghamshire. his body language wasn't necessarily one that exuded excitement . one of that exuded excitement. one of the other journalists here said that when asked how, how things were going, how he was feeling, it was a shrug and a mare that the journalists received from ben bradley . we are waiting to ben bradley. we are waiting to speak to ben bradley, but while a lot of the other candidates, including the liberal democrats,

including the liberal democrats, including the liberal democrats, including the green party as well as the independent candidate for ashfield, have had a chance to come up here and speak to the press and speak to me in particular. we're still waiting to hear from ben bradley, the conservative candidate, as well as the likely front runner, clare ward, the labour candidate. >> well, thank you very much indeed. we'll we'll come back to you when that vote is announced , you when that vote is announced, hopefully very soon indeed. gb news reporter will hollis there at the count, from a nice little viewing point there, he can see everything that's going on. ben bradley, he's popular among the conservative party faithful. yes. >> he's got a spark to his. >> he's got a spark to his. >> so i represented the seat next to mansfield and yeah, it went before 2019. tory so that mansfield had been labour former coal mining community. been labour for as long as it had existed. but that was an early sort of abandoner of the labour party in mansfield . and ben has, party in mansfield. and ben has, been the beneficiary of that . is been the beneficiary of that. is this a turning point? is the fact that labour is looks likely

to win. the east midlands mayor could the labour party's fortunes be turning around? because, my goodness, were they bleak in 2019? yes. >> and i asked, will what he knows about clare ward, the labour candidate there. but you must know a lot about her, yeah. i've no gosh, this is so sad. i was in student politics, so i knew her a bit from from labour, i know, why was i doing something normal . but yeah i've something normal. but yeah i've known him. i've. she's like she's not very close to me, but i've known her vote labour sticker for a long time. i'm just tragic . just tragic. >> no, it's good, it's good. you know, we always talk about how young people should be engaged in politics and why not. >> there should be down the pub instead. >> yeah . let's see if our next >> yeah. let's see if our next guest had a wasted youth in the tory party, because she's been a very vocal conservative since her election, when she beat ed balls in fact, yes it is. we're delighted to say, former education minister dame andrea jenkyns. education minister dame andrea jenkyns . so hi there, andrea,

jenkyns. so hi there, andrea, good to see you and thank you for your time. as ever. you've been a bit of a thorn in the sides of your leader. rishi sunakis sides of your leader. rishi sunak is it time now to bury the hatchet? you're a maximum of six months away from a general election . does every tory mp election. does every tory mp just have to get behind rishi and do what you can? you haven't had a terrible night. >> no. i've. »- >> no. i've. >> i wrote an article, for, you know, a national newspaper today. i don't think that mps are going to follow suit and put letters in, like, like clark and i did, so i've said we need a major cabinet reshuffle where we bnng major cabinet reshuffle where we bring together all factions of the party. i'd like to see boris, brought back so he has, a lead role in the election campaign and even goes for a seat in the next election. and i think it's time to, you know, to see the conservatives coming together because the threat of a labour government now is getting too real. but i also think we

actually need to examine the results as well. i mean, look at the, by—election result in blackpool . look at the turnout. blackpool. look at the turnout. it was pretty shocking. i oh, andrew, aren't we lost you ? andrew, aren't we lost you? >> we'll pick that up again because i want to i want to find out if, if andrea regrets being so vocal in her opposition towards rishi sunak, whether she's genuinely changed her mind at all, or whether it's just a kind of crisis management. >> well, i, i think she's doing the i think the only option, the only game in town. please, i'd love to hear from you at home, particularly if you're, a supporter of, the tories. but if i were in your your shoes, i would just sort of crack on. get behind, the leader and just try and, you know, turn all the heat onto labour. you know, we're not infallible at all. we've got loads of questions that need to be. >> you know what, gloria?

>> you know what, gloria? >> that is a very, very good point. the conservatives have not been in fighting mode at all. there are so many things they could go out labour with, particularly when they promise, you know, big spend and then they decide to backtrack on their andrea sunak. >> oh andrea's back. >> oh andrea's back. >> oh, fantastic. fantastic >> oh, fantastic. fantastic >> you want to bring boris johnson back? you were saying you want a big cabinet reshuffle. >> and i was also saying about looking at the at the by—election results. >> yes, that's right. >> yes, that's right. >> we lost 13,000, voters who stayed at home. labour lost 2000. you know , they lost 2000 2000. you know, they lost 2000 votes and reform only gained 1000. so they are not becoming the second party reform, we're seeing that the vote is split, but what we're actually seeing massively is that people are . massively is that people are. across the board. are fed up of politicians. there's so much apathy. so i think we need true common sense conservatism and re—engage the electorate. again, i think, rishi has got to be radical now and bring across and

rishi sunak that's probably wishful thinking from your on your part. >> i mean, rishi sunak, he's not he's not, he doesn't scream radical does he. he doesn't scream. >> no, no . >> no, no. >> no, no. >> exactly. >> exactly. >> this is why i wrote this article. i was writing it at 2:00 this morning, which i submitted to a newspaper because l, submitted to a newspaper because i, i just think it's as i said, we're staring down the barrel of a gun now, and to me, labour are two sides of the same coin as the snp, their views, i mean, look at wes streeting tweet. that was appalling. i heard you both ladies discussing it earlier, but i think that's a true view of what the, the, the labour party think of, conservative because let's face it, they may put flags on everything, but they actually look down on, the voters in the red wall who are patriotic. that is a true sense of the word with the labour party. >> do you think there's any chance that you could win the next election, i think the only way, would win. i mean, let me just talk briefly about my

canvass returns, in red wall seat.i canvass returns, in red wall seat. i mean, i know your, colleague said , ben bradley was colleague said, ben bradley was one of the first red wall seats, but it was actually estimated in 2010 myself, against ed balls in 2015, and ben was in 2017. so you know, we've we've all been sort of like fighting in the red wall seats for quite a while now. now my canvass returns are showing a third labour, a third conservative and 40% undecided. so very much like we're seeing across the board low turnout. so i think that this is about giving a bloody nose to to, the party, and a warning shot. and i just think that i don't think it's game over. we've got to, as i said, unite the party, bring bons i said, unite the party, bring boris back. and, i mean, i'd like to see us, you know , work like to see us, you know, work with with nigel. >> i mean, andrea , nigel, you >> i mean, andrea, nigel, you forgive me, but you sound a tad deflated , not perhaps your usual deflated, not perhaps your usual self. i think we spoke a little

while ago. and you were saying. you were saying rishi sunak needs to go. we need to shake things up massively. now, you're sort of, you know, tempering. tempering yourself . have you. tempering yourself. have you. have you given up? really? >> no, i'm not. it's not about giving up. i'm shattered. i've had two hours sleep. >> can i just just supplementary today. >> so i think that's what it is. >> so i think that's what it is. >> andrea. just one very quick supplementary, if i may. just something you i just want to pick up on something. you said we should be working with nigel. in what way? >> how do you mean? oh, come on, i think the right need to unite common sense conservatism has got to unite because, there's no appetite for starmer. despite what people say, he is likely to get in by default because of low turnout and apathy . and that's turnout and apathy. and that's not great for our country. let's bnng not great for our country. let's bring together the right. let's, let's save our country from the socialists. that's what i would like to see. well well, could nigel farage, we're talking about a potential reform ,

about a potential reform, hostile takeover of the conservative party. >> who who knows what could happen, what allegiances there could be. thank you very much . could be. thank you very much. thank you. andrew. pleasure. really great to speak to you . really great to speak to you. and very good. we've got some breaking news. >> yes, we can reveal that labour's kim mcguinness has won the north east mayoralty. so this was a the second time that this was a the second time that this has been contested. and, she defeated the former labour turned independent mayorjamie turned independent mayor jamie driscoll, who keir starmer stopped from standing as the labour candidate believed he was too left wing, but he i think he gave her a reasonable run for her, the official labour candidate, a reasonable run for her money. >> but she's one thing. >> but she's one thing. >> labour, another win for laboun >> labour, another win for labour. kim mcguinness, north east mayor. mayor for the north. so i suppose they just retain that. >> it's not a win, is it? >> they hold, they hold, they hold. >> but good news for keir starmer's party. of course it is. we were expecting it though weren't we. we're expecting it. >> i'm actually looking forward to seeing the breakdown of the results because the polls said it would be quite close. yeah,

so we will, we will, we'll have that information by the time you come back. we come back after this short .

break. >> yes. right. it's 226, and we're going to cross live immediately to york and north yorkshire for the mayoral result. there we go . result. there we go. >> cunliffe—lister. felicity. claire liberal democrat, 30,867. duncan keane , charles. the duncan keane, charles. the conservative party candidate . conservative party candidate.

51,967. foster, kevin. the green party candidate . at 15,188. party candidate. at 15,188. haslam, stephen paul, commonly known as haslam, paul, independent 12,370. scaith, david robert, commonly known as scaith david labour and co—operative party 66,000. so that figure is 66,761.

tordoff, keith . graham, tordoff, keith. graham, independent 13,250. i hereby declare that. scaith, david robert , commonly known as scaith robert, commonly known as scaith david, is duly elected to the mayor of north yorkshire and york before i invite the winning candidate to come and address the hall, could i just take a moment to thank my team and my staff for the work that they've done throughout the day , and for

done throughout the day, and for everybody, for your attendance , everybody, for your attendance, and extremely good behaviour throughout the day as well. so could i invite the winning candidate, david scaith, to join ? >> thank 7_ >> thank you. 7 >> thank you. everyone just want to say a huge thank you to all the counting staff. everyone who's worked on this election. there's obviously been loads of work today here. and in harrogate, which is where i'm from, which is really nice to be here, to be in the place where i was born, but right across the region. so thank you very much to everyone who's worked on it and for security and police for keeping us all safe in this building here today as well, thank you everyone who supported me throughout this entire campaign, we've had hundreds of people going out on a daily bafis people going out on a daily basis right across, york and nonh basis right across, york and north yorkshire. and i thank every single one of you, my wife

alice, and my two children, who are in school at the minute. so i probably give them a call in a minute to let them know how it's gone, which i'm sure they'll probably want to come home, and all my amazing staff, grace. harry, scott. pete, claire, everyone who's here been absolutely amazing. so thank you. every single one of you, my agent janice. without janice, i wouldn't have done any of the paperwork or admin or anything, so i can't. i can't see where she is, but, she's over there. thank you so much, all the volunteers right across the region from skipton, scarborough, richmond, selby, york, ripon , whitby, harrogate, york, ripon, whitby, harrogate, knaresborough, northallerton, tadcaster , everywhere, teams in tadcaster, everywhere, teams in selby, everywhere. they've been absolutely amazing , selby, everywhere. they've been absolutely amazing, as i selby, everywhere. they've been absolutely amazing , as i say, absolutely amazing, as i say, someone who grew up in this town, and has her own business and has my family in this region , i want it to be the region that i , i want it to be the region that! can , i want it to be the region that i can grow up in. my children can grow up in. we can all have a fantastic, prosperous region , and i think we've got region, and i think we've got a great opportunity to bring york and north yorkshire together and really grow as one collectively. i think the message is clear

from york and north yorkshire and across, the country that we want change, i believe with the labour party and under keir starmer, we have huge potential for this and i hope this continues. and thank you everyone for your support. thank you . you. >> well there you go. the winning candidate there, labour. >> yeah. the labour party will be really pleased with that result. they will be able to do some immature or mature mocking, depending on what side of the political divide that you are in, because that's , mayoralty in, because that's, mayoralty contains rishi sunak the conservative prime minister's constituency of richmond . constituency of richmond. >> so he's ruled by a labour mayor now, ghaith david robert is the name and he won 66,000 or so votes. conservatives on

51,967. but as, gloria says, the conservatives probably should have won that . yeah, if it were have won that. yeah, if it were normal times. but as we're seeing, they're losing not everywhere, but, a lot of places, no incumbency there , places, no incumbency there, which is, which is first time there's been an election. >> there . right? it's 1431. it's >> there. right? it's 1431. it's time for your. news. >> good afternoon. it's 232. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. first we start with some breaking news. a teenager who stabbed 16 year old mikey roynon to death with a large hunting style knife at a birthday party in bath. has been detained for life. he's been ordered to serve a minimum term of 16 years. labour's kim mcguinness has won the north east mayoralty, defeating former labour turned independent jamie driscoll. meanwhile conservative ben houchen has been re—elected

as tees valley mayor but with a reduced majority over labour in darlington, he polled 4000 votes more than labour's chris mcewan. lord houchen has already won more votes in hartlepool, redcar and middlesbrough, with just stockton still to be announced . stockton still to be announced. the prime minister says the local election results have been disappointing after labour made significant gains. it comes after labour also won the by—election in blackpool south. labour's chris webb took the seat, beating conservative david jones in second following a by—election caused by the resignation of tory scott benton. rishi sunak accepted that the results were less than ideal >> obviously it's disappointing to lose good, hard working conservative councillors and i'm grateful to them for all their service in local government, keeping council tax low and delivering services for local people . i am focused completely people. i am focused completely on the job at hand that's delivering for people across the country. if you just look at

what we're doing in the last week or so alone, a £900 tax cut, hitting people's pay slips , cut, hitting people's pay slips, the first failed asylum seeker off to rwanda . off to rwanda. >> labour's local election gains across england and wales include winning in key areas such as rushmoor in hampshire for the first time. labour also won thurrock and hartlepool, but the tories held harlow . in other tories held harlow. in other news, a high court judge has ruled that the government's climate plan is unlawful . climate plan is unlawful. several environmental charities took joint legal action against the government, saying the strategy ignored the risk of missing targets. in his judgement, mrjustice missing targets. in his judgement, mr justice sheldon ruled the government's plan was not justified by the evidence and for the latest stories , sign and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts

i >> -- >> good afternoon. britain labour's david smith has warned the york and north yorkshire mayoral election. labour's kim mcguinness has won the north east mayoralty, defeating former labour turned independent jamie driscoll. we are awaiting a declaration from the east midlands, but labour are claiming they're going to be victorious there. >> so? >> so? >> so? >> so it looks like we're going to have lots of new labour mayors by the sounds of things. and a fair few surviving conservatives clinging on ben houchen, he's clinging on. he did he did reasonably well. >> and perhaps a&e street tomorrow. and who knows whether london will result in an upset? >> well, actually, i'm glad you said that, because it's quite interesting, lots of people saying that, actually, susan hall might actually win the london mayor. i mean, that would

be quite something. that would be quite something. that would be quite something. i mean, steve khan's had two terms. he's running for his third. there is no cap on the amount of terms you can. you can have, anyway, should we speak to, gb news. presenter alastair stewart, who is with us, alastair, these latest , results, the london, not latest, results, the london, not the london, the mayoral elections like you desperately waiting for london and west midlands just to pick up on what gloria was saying there about the north east and kim mcguinness winning, and jamie driscoll, who was the former mayor in that neck of the woods, fell out with hq, as it were , fell out with hq, as it were, and they wouldn't back him. so he stood as an independent. so it was one of those little, almost a diary piece where that is an important and significant victory for keir starmer in the sense that that he was able to see the woman that he did support win through against an independent who he didn't support, who nevertheless stood there and decided to go it

alone. i've also been sitting out there in between listening to you, but but looking at, the other results that are trickling through because it really is a very busy 48 hours still to come. apart from the mayoral elections. and there's a couple that i pick out, particularly, another pat on the back for keir starmer, with labour winning hyndburn. hyndburn from no overall control , a hyndburn. hyndburn from no overall control, a traditional marginal seat there, and that was quite significant. castle point however and you may think i'm boring for england on on essex, but if you've been doing elections for as long as i have, you know that that essex area of castle point and haaland places like that are really important, labour didn't succeed there. the independents did very well and the tories failed to take one councillor seat there. so there's still a lot there . if there's still a lot there. if you really want to know what's

going to happen at the general election, then those other results that are trickling through, like hyndburn , like through, like hyndburn, like castle point, are worth looking at as well, because only they complete the jigsaw puzzle that will have to be completed either by rishi sunak or by keir starmer, or a combination thereof , come the general thereof, come the general election in the next couple of months. >> alastair, why is that area of essex so important? then tell us why . why is the area you were why. why is the area you were talking about castle point and essex area so important ? essex area so important? >> partly because economically they're important and you've got places like dagenham there, which used to be very important with the ford motor company. but it is, it's the demography of it . people, are more likely to change their minds. they're not the sort of dyed in the wool labour supporters in, in the north and the north—east, where they used to say tongue in cheek. and gloria will remember, there's some constituencies where they don't bother counting

the labour vote. they weigh it and that's that will give you the net result. and ditto for the net result. and ditto for the conservatives in the green and leafy suburbs , where we've and leafy suburbs, where we've seen a little bit of movement there as well. it's really just a question of looking at what is the marginal propensity of people to say, no, it is time for a change. i'm going to have another go. and those are seats like in north london and in essex and along the northern banks of the thames, where traditionally people have been willing to change their mind and determine the result of the election. and as i said earlier on this morning, a place like hendon are crucial because they're bellwether seats as well. they tell you what the outcome of the general election is likely to be. >> alastair, can i get a bit more of your, wisdom ? because, more of your, wisdom? because, you know, you look at these opinion polls and it suggests that labour is going to win this massive landslide come that general election. but here's the thing. i get that the tories are really unpopular, but i don't feel and you mentioned it

earlier, you know, i lived through 97. i felt sort of that massive mood towards labour. i don't feel it. that same mood now . yeah, do parties really get now. yeah, do parties really get landslides when you're not completely loved? >> i don't have that feeling enhen >> i don't have that feeling ehheni >> i don't have that feeling either. i share your, not it's not pessimism . it's realism. not pessimism. it's realism. because i think you and i, i remember you and i talking about it, and also a mutual friend. people like tracey crouch, who was on the other side of the political equation, a wonderful woman who's a tory mp in north kent, you just sometimes sense that that's the way it's going to go , and it is going to be to go, and it is going to be big. and i remember talking to a number of tories before david cameron got his overall majority. i did sense that. i did feel that people did want a change and that cameron was likely to go from coalition to a majority, and he did will be, i think, 20 or something like that. so it's the political equivalent of doing that. and it ain't blowing that hard for

labour at the moment. yet if they took hyndburn, if they took castlepoint , it would be, well castlepoint, it would be, well there you go alastair. >> sorry to rush you there. we've got to take a very quick break, but

well, it's 247, and we're going to speak to the founder of electoral calculus, martin baxter, martin, we've had a few more results since we last spoke. a few of the, the mayors have been announced. what's your take? >> well, the north yorkshire one was particularly interesting, wasn't it? because that is traditionally conservative heartland territory. places like harrogate , richmond, rishi harrogate, richmond, rishi sunak, eamonn seat and now is being taken by labour. so the labour boots on the ground are very much on rishi sunaks own turf. so that confirms the story overall that labour are up and the conservatives are down. but

i'd like to look a little more at the details of that, because it's not as simple as just voters switching directly from conservative to labour. what we're seeing in the people we ask in the polls is that although a few people have moved from voting conservative last time to voting labour now , many time to voting labour now, many more have gone from conservative to reform . and also for there's to reform. and also for there's a large chunk of former conservative voters who plan not to vote at all. they are disillusioned . and on the labour disillusioned. and on the labour side, people who did not vote last time, perhaps because they were worried about jeremy corbyn, are planning to vote laboun corbyn, are planning to vote labour. so it's, it's not just a story of conservative to labour switching, it's more that the labour vote is consolidating on the left and the and the right of centre vote is splitting, and some of it is staying at home. but the conservatives are, are in trouble in many ways. and i think the north yorkshire result shows that even in conservative rural england, they are in trouble. >> okay. martin baxter , we're,

>> okay. martin baxter, we're, coming to the end of our hour , coming to the end of our hour, but thank you for all your analysis so far. thank you. >> thank you. martin now, it has been a great local election night for the labour party , a night for the labour party, a win in blackpool, lots of gains in the local elections . well, in the local elections. well, joining us now to discuss his party's performance is shadow health secretary wes streeting. wes thank you very much indeed for joining me and gloria this forjoining me and gloria this afternoon , i'll let you give afternoon, i'll let you give your take on what we've seen , your take on what we've seen, but so far we've seen some really encouraging results across the country that i think reflect the fact the country is crying out for change, feel really let down by the conservatives and are increasingly able to put their confidence and trust in the labour party, because we've changed as a party under keir's leadership. >> and i think particularly about the hartlepool result, where we now lead the council with a majority . and yet only with a majority. and yet only a few years ago, voters in hartlepool sent us a direct and blunt message that unless we backed our ideas up, we weren't going to get the support of

people who've been labour through thick and thin over many years. and to keir's credit, he took that result on the chin and used the result of the hartlepool by—election to carry that message to the whole labour party to get the change that we needed to bring the labour party back to its roots , back to the back to its roots, back to the service of working people across the country and that's why i think we've seen that remarkable result in blackpool south, where voters had a chance to send a direct message to rishi sunak with a third biggest swing since 1945 and a by—election and the best result labour's had. but you think right across the country, actually we mentioned quite a few north of england results there . look down in results there. look down in aldershot at the rushmoor council where, you know, home of the british army being conservative for years, but i'm gonna, i'm gonna just because labour now whereas you're doing a very, very good job of saying what a fantastic night it was. >> but we haven't got that much time with you and we're delighted that you're with us. >> there are so many lessons to mention, gloria. sorry about

that. >> are there any lessons you want to learn from last night? is there anything that you thought , oh, is there anything that you thought, oh, need to is there anything that you thought , oh, need to watch that? thought, oh, need to watch that? or is everything tickety boo and the curtains being measured up for number 10? well we will neven for number 10? well we will never, ever be complacent. >> to measure up the curtains for number 10, there are some places where we didn't do as well as we would have liked, or well as we would have liked, or we fell back, or people vote, voted for smaller parties. we're going to take the same approach that we have done for the last four years, which is to is to listen, learn and work hard to earn those people's trust. because, you know, i don't i want people to go confidently into the next general election voting for a labour government to build the new homes. we need to build the new homes. we need to get our nhs back on its feet and make sure it's fit for the future, sort out our economy and the cost of living crisis. >> worse, i must, i must say that a lot of people were horrified by a recent tweet. you say the labour party has changed. you're talking about the london mayoral election, and you essentially suggested that anyone who votes for susan hall, the conservative candidate, is a

white supremacist and an islamophobe. do you take that back ? back? >> absolutely. was not suggesting that about conservative voters. well, that's what it sounds like, that no , i do not think that about no, i do not think that about conservative voters. and that's not what i said . well, we've got not what i said. well, we've got it here. >> you say a win for susan hall in the conservatives is a win for racists, white supremacists and islamophobes the world over. i mean, that is a that is a ridiculous thing to say. >> i wish it were . i would just >> i wish it were. i would just be speak from the heart about this sadiq khan as the mayor of london, the first muslim mayor of london we've had has had an unprecedented level of abuse and requires an unprecedented level of security to keep him and his family safe , of a kind that family safe, of a kind that bons family safe, of a kind that boris johnson didn't need when he was mayor. and ken livingstone didn't need when he was mayor. now, if people don't like sadiq, fair enough. if they don't want to vote for him because of his policies, fair enough. that's democracy. what we have seen, though, is just an absolutely horrendous level of

racism directed at sadiq and a lot of prejudice based on the fact that he's a muslim and prejudice that he wouldn't have got if he wasn't a muslim. >> what's that got to do with a vote for susan hall, though? >> well, when the deputy chair of the conservative party suggested that sadiq khan was run by islamists, susan hall didn't utter a word of condemnation. susan hall has also sought to stoke division dunng also sought to stoke division during her campaign by suggesting that jewish londoners were scared of sadiq khan , even were scared of sadiq khan, even as the board of deputies of british jews had to speak out to say actually, we've had a really good working relationship. and sadiq, so you're suggesting suggesting that criticism of sadiq khan must be islamophobic? >> i mean, that's that's just crazy talk. >> no, absolutely not. and that's why i'm not suggesting it. and look, i've got my criticisms of sadiq khan and you know, take ulez, for example. we did not see eye to eye on that issue, and there are differences of opinion. we'll have and there are plenty of people in my own constituency or across london

who voted for susan hall and other candidates haven't got a racist bone in their body. i'm not for a minute suggesting that anyone who voted for susan hall is a racist or a bigot. i am speaking directly to the fact that susan hall has has, i think, stoked division and has failed to condemn the racism directed at her opponent. and i think that's appalling . think that's appalling. >> wes, just just final question is it possible that sadiq khan is it possible that sadiq khan is in trouble tomorrow? i'm heanng is in trouble tomorrow? i'm hearing some, you know, the not well—sourced, but some reports that susan hall may be doing better than many people assumed . better than many people assumed. >> well, it's we've always said this election will be close. sadiq won by 5% last time round . sadiq won by 5% last time round. and the conservatives changed the voting system so that people can't do second preferences. and the greens and the lib dems couldn't transfer to him. so we always warned it would be close. but we're not even counting yet. i think they're still doing the verification of all the ballots that have come in. so i think it's far too soon to tell and i

hope he is re—elected on on his record. but we will we will have to wait and see. and i know he's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. people want to criticise him. they disagree. that's absolutely fine. >> thank you very much wes. we're going to have to leave it there because we're at the end of the show. but, great to speak to you, health secretary. >> i think i think to be fair, he sort of withdrew quite a lot, okay. >> we'll just see. we'll digest it. i'm sure martin will. up next, it's martin daubney. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar , the sponsors of weather solar, the sponsors of weather on gb news. >> hello. welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. for some, today felt like summer. for others it still felt like february and the mixed weather will continue through the long weekend. dull and damp over many central areas today. some heavy showers this evening over parts of southern scotland and northern england, but it's in western scotland where we've seen plenty of sunshine. today we'll keep the largely clear skies overnight, but also clearing skies developing further south, and that's going

to allow it to turn quite chilly here. temperatures not far off, freezing in some rural spots, but the cloud and the outbreaks of rain over northern england, nonh of rain over northern england, north wales and northern ireland. we'll keep the temperatures up here does make for a rather drab start to the long weekend. rain on and off for northern ireland, southern scotland and north wales through the day should be turning drier over northern england, a brighter day over the midlands and east anglia compared to today. and east anglia compared to today . 1 or 2 scattered showers today. 1 or 2 scattered showers in the southeast, but much of the south fine and generally. again, a good chunk of western scotland will be dry and bright. not quite as warm as today, but still 16, 17, 18, perhaps 19 further south, but feeling cooler, obviously where it's cloudy. still quite a bit of cloudy. still quite a bit of cloud across northern areas on sunday, but maybe not as many showers. some heavy ones perhaps developing across scotland later on, the cloud increasing in the south, but many here dry and bright again on sunday, increasing chance of seeing some showers, particularly in the southwest. later on, but again with a bit of sunshine feeling pleasant enough, temperatures getting close to 20 celsius cooler on some of these north sea coasts , and again some sea coasts, and again some sunshine on monday with some

showers around as well. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers. sponsors of

gb news. >> a very good afternoon to you. and a very happy friday. it's 3 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. and we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster. all across the uk. on today's show, sir keir starmer claims victory in blackpool as a giant step towards winning power. is a labour government pretty much now guaranteed . and just what now guaranteed. and just what could it mean for the country ? could it mean for the country? and we'll be giving you the latest on the local mayoral election results. anna riley is in harrogate for that and island orders police. the man the border after ministers claimed