85 of emails from pensioners who felt left out, ignored, taken for granted. Dont forget about 75 of those of pensionable age vote for the conservative party, but they didnt feel they would be treated with respect, and the rest of the emails were about this muslim war memorial went down in extremely badly. We put that to jeremy hunt , the that to jeremy hunt, the chancellor of the exchequer. The man next to me, christopher hope, cornered him on that. He defended his position. He defended his position. But let know what you but let me know what you think. £1 million, thats an expensive signal isnt expensive virtue. Signal isnt it . Get expensive virtue. Signal isnt it. 7 get in touch. Gb views at gb news. Com lets crack on. Now its news. Com lets crack on. Now wsfime news. Com lets crack on. Now its time for your latest news headunes its time for your latest News Headlines tatiana sanchez. Headlines with tatiana sanchez. Martin. Thank you. The top stories from the gb newsroom. The Prime Minister refused to say how the government would fund a plan to abolish employee contributions to National Insurance. Around £10 billion has been spent on a £0. 02 cut to the insurance rate, but its benefits are likely to be cancelled out by an expected rise in council tax. Rishi sunak rise in council tax. Rishi sunak says british workers deserve to be recognised. Be recognised. The direction of travel is now crystal clear. Our plans are working because of the improvement in the economic environment, because of the fact weve been able to get inflation down from 11 to 4, Mortgage Rates , energy bills falling, rates, energy bills falling, wages rising, weve been able to start cutting peoples taxes responsibly. And that shows that our plans are working. I believe in a society where hard work is rewarded. Were delivering that rewarded. Were delivering that for people and they can see that the change were talking about is to happen. And we is starting to happen. And if we stick the we make stick to the plan, we can make sure has of sure that everyone has peace of mind. Mind. Sir keir starmer says that the tories are giving with one hand and taking with the other. And unlike the government, labours policies are fully funded. Contrast that with the government, where yesterday, at the end of the budget, the chancellor made a staggering £46 billion unfunded commitment to aboush billion unfunded commitment to abolish National Insurance. Thats bigger than liz trusss commitment. So theyve learned absolutely nothing. We need absolutely nothing. We need change. Its time for change. A boy sentenced for the murder of transgender teenager brianna ghey is to appeal the decision. Eddie ratcliffe and scarlett jenkinson, who are both 16, were jailed for life last month with a minimum of 20 and 22 years. They were 15 when they hatched a plan to kill brianna with a hunting knife, in an attack described as frenzied and ferocious. Briannas parents say the killers should never be released prison. Mps are released from prison. Mps are warning the post office is not fit to run any compensation schemes for victims of the horizon. It scandal, and should be excluded. The business and trade Committee Published recommendations for delivering payments to hundreds of victims , payments to hundreds of victims, describing efforts so far as abject failure. The Committee Says an independent body should be appointed to lead the process. The chairman described it as a National Disgrace that only £1 out of every £5 of the budget for compensation has been paid out. For compensation has been paid out. Christian horners for compensation has been paid out. Christian horners accuser out. Christian horners accuser has been suspended following red bulls investigation into inappropriate behaviour against the Formula One Team principal. Mr horner, whos 50, was allowed to remain in his role after red bulls Parent Company gmb , bulls Parent Company gmb, dismissed the accusations made against him. Understood the against him. Its understood the female member of staff has been suspended as a direct result of the inquiry. The number of potential victims of modern slavery referred to the home office is at an all time high. Just over 17,000 people were referred as possible victims of Human Trafficking , slavery, Human Trafficking, slavery, servitude or forced labour. Children made up more than 4 in 10 of the cases, which was also the highest on record. The average time it took for a referral to eventually get support was 23 days, up from six days in 2022. The government will attempt to overturn amendments to its flagship immigration policy after it suffered heavy defeats in the house of lords, commons leader penny morton confirmed today that the safety of rwanda bill will return to the lords on the 18th of march. Mps will get a chance to debate and vote on the amendments in the following week. The governments plan would compel judges to regard the east african as safe the east african country as safe , clearing the way to send people who crossed the channel in small a way in small boats on a one way flight , to the united flight to rwanda, to the United States, where President Biden is preparing to deliver his state of the union speech later this evening. Hes expected to use his fourth address to present a sharp distinction between his style of leadership and his likely opponent, donald trump. Likely opponent, donald trump. Touting a strong economic performance, hell also to performance, hell also look to allay voters concerns about his age, despite being just four years older than mr trump, and tails are wagging in birmingham as the worlds biggest dog show returns. Canines in colourful coats, scarves and leg warmers have descended on the city for the start of this years crufts. A selection of agility and jumping tasks are on the agenda for the opening day, as well as a heelwork to music competition. Obedience challenges and a West Midlands police dog display. 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 now back to. Martin. Back to. Martin. Great stuff. Now we start with our big interview with jeremy hunt and hes told gb news that the government must change the uks economic model. So we dont rely on mass migration to boost the economy. At last, the chancellor was speaking after the all powerful office for budget responsibility has now accepted that net migration could be 315,000 every yean migration could be 315,000 every year, and thats up from their own prediction in november of 245,000. Hes also defended the decision to give £1 million towards the cost of building a memorial to solely honour the muslims who died in the first and Second World Wars. Mr hunt was speaking to our political edhon was speaking to our political editor, christopher hope. Editor, christopher hope. Jeremy hunt, thanks for joining us today on gb news. Were looking back at your budget yesterday, the Spring Budget, the first announcement you a for you made was a statue for muslims who died in the first and Second World War. Why do you need a war memorial for muslim soldiers we already have soldiers when we already have one faiths none . One for all faiths and none . Think it is well, because i think it is important recognise the important to recognise the contribution of 170,000 muslims who died defending our freedoms, we have already, as a government supported a memorial to sikh soldiers who died. We supported soldiers who died. We supported a memorial to black and african soldiers who died in Windrush Square in brixton, and a very good proposal. I also, by the good proposal. I also, by the way, remembered, the sufferings, and worries of people of the jewish faith in my autumn statement. So a very good statement. So a very good proposal was made to me by sajid javid. Yes. Who is a colleague and a friend. And i decided that had merit. Had merit. And the way you framed it, you framed the answer saying, you framed the answer by saying, we fight extremism and we need to fight extremism and heal divisions. Loss of life in after the loss of life in israel gaza. Israel and gaza. Will that do that . Will that memorial do that . Will that memorial do that . I believe it will, because i think it shows what unites us. Just as the funding that i gave to the Holocaust Education trust after the autumn statement did it, it reminds us that on many things , whether its the things, whether its the holocaust, whether its the sacrifices made in the world wars for our freedom, we stand together as human beings, and that was the purpose of that fund. It shouldnt be a divisive thing. No. No. On immigration, you said three times that growth cannot come from unlimited migration. But the obr, as know, has but the obr, as you know, has increased the net migration forecast to 315,000, up by about a third. So youre relying on more migration to grow your economy. When cant rely on when you say you cant rely on it . It . Have had a big no. We have had a big increase in migration in recent years because of ukraine, because of afghanistan, because of hong kong, very specific factors where as a country, we did the right thing, but the current levels of migration are not sustainable. This government not sustainable. This government wants to bring it down, its currently, as you know, over 700,000, far too high. The governments brought in some very clear policies to bring those numbers down. The obr make an estimate of where that will get to based on what the office for National Statistics say, its a small increase on the numbers. The ons previously said. What im saying is weve got to change that. We need to change our model. So that we are not relying on companies being able to expand by hiring more and more workers from overseas , and more workers from overseas, because weve got 10 million adults of working age in this country who are not in work. And thats why in every budget ive done, ive taken big steps to try and break down the barriers to work, whether its the childcare measures , getting rid childcare measures, getting rid of the lifetime allowance on pensions, the back to Work Programme for disability benefits , its, all those things benefits, its, all those things are going to make a difference and that is how we need to help our businesses grow. Your old colleague wants to maybe cut taxes for companies that employ british workers and dont employ foreign workers. Is that an idea you might look at . Well, i think we want all companies to employ british workers. We dont want to be dependent on unlimited migration. Theres always going to role for people with to be a role for people with very skills we very particular skills that we dont have here, but we should be aiming to tap into the potential of the brilliant people that we have at home, first and foremost. Tory mp say youre too wedded to the obr , are you . I mean, to the obr, are you . I mean, youre free to do what you like, but of course the obr must, must score your, your , your tax cuts score your, your, your tax cuts or spending choices against what they plan to the economy. Do you think its got too much power how. Now. Well i think we are better having an obe. It was set up by a conservative government because we didnt believe the forecasts that gordon was forecasts that gordon brown was making when making in his budgets. When chancellors announce chancellors would announce treasury forecasts and people worried chancellors were worried that chancellors were cooking the books to make things look more favourable than they actually are, all the obr does is, it says independently, is the government meeting its own fiscal rules. And so it doesnt decide those fiscal rules. It just takes the rules that i decide and says if were meeting them or not. Im not saying we cant improve the system. We have , but if i give you one have, but if i give you one example, im the first chancellor where the obr has actually scored the dynamic impact of my policies. So they said that my the cuts in National Insurance in the autumn and in this budget are going to add nearly half a percent to gdp. Thats a positive thing and thats flows in the numbers. I think , you know, when were think, you know, when were trying to rebuild trust in politicians , its better to have politicians, its better to have bodies who independently verify what we say on something as important as the budget. A real time scoring, you havent income tax. Some havent cut income tax. Some thought you might do. Jacob rees mogg, your colleague in parliament, also works with gb news. He said this kind of nickel and diming wont make a lot of difference. Have you been fiddling around could fiddling around when you could have dramatic . More. Have been more dramatic . More. More maybe. More political . Maybe. Its not nickel and well, its not nickel and diming to cut National Insurance payments by one third. That means three months. In three months, that means that the person on the average wage is going to see their tax bill fall by about £900. That is a very significant reduction in taxation in the context of taxes that have overall had to go up to pay for the pandemic and the Energy Crisis that weve had. You know, we accept that. I think it was the right thing to support families through a difficult period. But the choice now in british politics is that the conservatives want to bring taxes want to start taxes down. So we want to start that journey. Weve done it in that journey. Weve done it in yesterdays budget. We did it in the autumn statement and both times we did it without increasing borrowing, without , increasing borrowing, without, reducing the Resources Available for Public Services. And wed like to continue on that path because we think its wrong to have a double tax on work. We need to be an economy that makes work pay. But at the moment, if you work , it gets taxed twice you work, it gets taxed twice through National Insurance and through National Insurance and through tax. Through income tax. So might go is that the so nics might go is that the target eventually. Weve said we want to well weve said we want to end unfairness, the end the unfairness, the direction of travel weve gone is to reduce National Insurance by one third. The fact that labour are opposing this today is really because labour dont have any plans to reduce taxation. It sort of makes my point for me, their plan is basically that tax should remain at its current levels. We say we dont have to accept the status quo if you make difficult decisions, if you stick to our plan for the economy, thats seen inflation falling and growth starting to rise, we can bnng growth starting to rise, we can bring down the tax burden and thats what were committed to doing. You fix those tax thresholds havent you . Which allows the treasury to hoover up all sorts of tax revenues from millions of people almost and people in almost increase and eventually increase the eventually probably increase the size of state. Those those size of the state. Those those thresholds the problem, thresholds are the problem, arent well what increased arent they . Well what increased the of state the the size of the state was the government stepping in to help businesses and families in a once century pandemic . Once in a century pandemic . That was 370 billion. And then 100 billion, then another 100 billion, actually, when it came to the Energy Crisis , we had to pay for Energy Crisis, we had to pay for that through tax rises, the freezing of the thresholds was one of those. But take someone one of those. But take someone on an average salary, which is £35,000, the freezing of the thresholds in this coming year will cost them about £230. The reduction in National Insurance will save them about £900, so they are seeing their taxes going down. Okay, you said in your speech the average earner has the lowest effective tax rate since 1975. What does that mean . Does that include indirect taxes Like Council Tax , vehicle taxes Like Council Tax, vehicle tax, other taxes we all pay . No. The effective tax rate is on income and Social Security contributions. So its income contributions. So its income tax. So youre ignoring the elephant in the room arent you. The other indirect taxes we pay more than we used to in the 70s. Because im accepting no, not because im accepting that burden gone that the tax burden has gone up and im saying i want to bring it yes. But im also it down. Yes. But im also saying in society saying that in a society where we pay, then the we want work to pay, then the effective tax rate that you pay for the work you do matters as and because were cutting National Insurance , the obr National Insurance, the obr independently. Thats why its useful to have someone who makes these numbers independently. So, you know, its not something im making independently say that making up independently say that will equivalent will bring the equivalent of around 200,000 more into around 200,000 people more into the phil, about 20 the workforce. Phil, about 20 of the vacancies across the country. Now, what you see is country. Now, what you see is that the effective tax rate, which takes account of thresholds and headline rate thresholds and the headline rate for tax and the headline rate for tax and the headline rate for National Insurance, that is now at its lowest level since 1975. But one thing i would also say , it is also lower than every say, it is also lower than every other major economy. Its lower than america, than germany and than americ