About 25 years theyre clocking off the shortest day theyve had. So off the shortest day theyve had. So essentially what theyre doing is working less for more money with this 5. 5 pay increase. Yeah the house of commons is rising now at about 430 in the afternoon. Now people can remember back to some of the midnight sittings that mps used to do. Were a long way away from that now. Late votes seem to be a thing of the past, and mps can seemingly go back to their offices and put their feet up around 430. I wonder if under if there is a labour government, i wonder with all the stuff about Flexible Working and, you know, being able to bring your children to work, they wont need of these benches at need all of these benches at all. Theyll probably be working from what from home. Isnt that what yvette from home. Isnt that what yve but question from home. Isnt that what yvebut question is, is this but the question is, is this value for money from our mps . Less time in the commons, less legislation Going Forward . We want to from you about what want to hear from you about what you think your mp is doing. Are they working hard enough . Vaiews gbnews. Com. But well be getting through all of that and so much more after your news headunes. Headlines. Tom, thank you and good afternoon. The top stories from the gb newsroom. The Prime Minister has suffered a blow, with another tory mp announcing he wont run at the next general election. James heappey is also expected to resign as Armed Forces Minister by the end of this month. Gb news understands this month. Gb news understands the decision is not over defence spending , citing personal spending, citing personal reasons. Mr heappey says hes standing down to prioritise his family and to pursue a different career. More family and to pursue a different career. More than 60 tory mps have now announced theyre leaving the commons, as speculation continues to mount over when the general election will be held. The Prime Minister has ruled out the 2nd of may. Lib dems leader sir ed davey has accused him of running scared. I think people are really fed up at this conservative government and want to see the back of it and elections cant come quick enough for the liberal democrats. And i think the people of our country, when those elections come, whenever rishi to go to the rishi sunak decides to go to the palace. Liberal are palace. Liberal democrats are ready. Fantastic ready. Weve got fantastic candidates are local candidates who are local champions their areas. Were champions in their areas. Were campaigning on things the campaigning on things like the nhs need to tackle the nhs and the need to tackle the crisis there, the cost of living and things like sewage. Has accused the prime labour has accused the Prime Minister of being too chicken to call an election. As a result, a group of activists dressed as chickens clucked outside downing street demanding the Prime Minister name the date now, labour added rishi sunak needs to stop squatting in number 10. The Prime Minister is also under fresh pressure following reports his party has received a further £5 million from frank hester, the businessman has been accused of being racist after he allegedly said mp diane abbott made him want to hate all black women. Rishi sunak is already women. Rishi sunak is already facing calls to return a £10 million donation from mr hester, following reports of a second load of cash. The chancellor , load of cash. The chancellor, jeremy hunt, says the conservative party is absolutely transparent when it comes to funding. We absolutely are transparent. We follow all the rules, the regulations. We believe in that regulations. We believe in that transparency. Many of the laws about it, we actually passed ourselves and the conservative party fully complies with all the requirements to be transparent about our donations. Millions of pounds worth of drugs and eight xl bullies have been seized during county lines raids. We play. Hundreds of raids. We play. Hundreds of weapons were also found, including rambo knives and machetes. Every police force machetes. Every police force across the country took part in the raids last week, resulting in more than 1800 arrests. Phone lines used to distribute drugs from cities to towns and villages were also shut down, former detective chief inspector mike neville told gb news the crackdown still doesnt solve the wider problem. Drugs trade is like the greek story of the hydra. You cut one head off and two more grow in its place. And more grow in its place. And whats really frightening with county lines is how they use children. And the reason they use children is because the police were very successful with undercover officers who are obviously adults. And so the drug dealers dont trust anybody. They dont know whos anybody. They dont know whos an adult , but anybody. They dont know whos an adult, but they well know that the police are not allowed to use children as some kind of undercover agent, to use children as some kind of undercover agent , the defence undercover agent, the defence secretary has warned. Russias president not to try it on while he was on a nato visit in Eastern Europe. Mr gb news has been given exclusive access to a Training Exercise in poland, where British Forces are working with their allies, preparing for any possible attack by russia. Its part of steadfast defender, the Largest Military exercise since the cold war. Grant shapps says nato allies are ready and willing to protect themselves from any threat , but protect themselves from any threat, but this exercise is designed to make sure that we can operate with other countries like poland and be interoperable i most importantly of all, sending a very clear signal to putin or any other despotic leader that we will stand up for ourselves and dont try it on. Meanwhile, voting is underway in russia to elect the countrys next president. Ballots are being cast over three days, even though Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win. Though Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win. He appealed to certain to win. He appealed to voters yesterday, including in annexed parts of ukraine, to be unhedin annexed parts of ukraine, to be united in determining his countrys future. Ukraine says countrys future. Ukraine says any russian vote in the donetsk , any russian vote in the donetsk, luhansk, zaporizhzhia and kherson regions will be void. Kherson regions will be void. Hamas is said to be moving towards a truce deal, but israels Prime Minister says the terror groups list of demands are unrealistic. Thousands of are unrealistic. Thousands of people staged a demonstration in tel aviv last night, demanding the Immediate Release of hostages from gaza. According to hostages from gaza. According to news agency reuters, hamas has presented a ceasefire proposal, which includes releasing some israeli women, children and the elderly in exchange for the freedom of palestinian prisoners. 100 of which are currently serving life sentences. The duke of sussex and prince of wales made separate addresses honoufing of wales made separate addresses honouring their mother at the diana diana legacy awards last night at the charitys 25th anniversary, the prince said his mother taught him that everyone has the potential to give Something Back. He told the audience that he and his wife, the princess of wales, have sought to focus on dianas legacy through their work. Legacy through their work. Prince william attended the event while the duke event in person, while the duke of sussex dialled in virtually from california. I am seriously impressed with the with the work that you do , the with the work that you do, especially at the young age that youre at and the future is yours, right, and youre helping to shape that future. Thats why to shape that future. Thats why youve been chosen and thats why youve youve been given these so my mum would be these awards. So my mum would be incredibly all the work incredibly proud of all the work that im incredibly that youve done, im incredibly proud. For doing proud. And thank you for doing everything that you do. Everything that you do. Mcdonalds has been forced to apologise to its customers after it was hit by an it fault. Restaurants were affected globally, but the issue has now been resolved in the uk and ireland. The company blamed the ireland. The company blamed the issue on a Technology Outage , issue on a Technology Outage, confirming there are no cybersecurity issues. For the cybersecurity issues. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen. Or you can go to gb news. Com slash alerts. Now its back to tom moore. Right. Well its 1208 and pay right. Well its1208 and pay will rise to more than £90,000 for mps after the parliamentary watchdog raised their salaries by an inflation busting 5. 5, meaning their pay will increase by nearly £5,000 next year. This comes as its been reported that the working day for an mp in the house of commons has averaged just seven hours and nine minutes in the last three months, a record low since labour came into power in 97. Yes, and the labour party is saying that this is proof that rishi sunak has run out of steam and that the parliament has run out of steam and its time for a change. But lets see what our Political Editor, Christopher Hope, makes this all. Are our hope, makes of this all. Are our politicians being paid more to do . Do less . Hi, tom. Hi, emily. Yeah you could say that. They were there. They are now at a 25 year low in their working day in the house of commons, around eight, nearly eight hours a day. Theyre being paid for sitting days. Of course, theyre not for here around half the year. They have long summer holidays, easter breaks , whitsun breaks. So it breaks, whitsun breaks. So it goes on. Theyre not here often on fridays , but today, is on fridays, but today, today is a day, the. I can report a sitting day, the. I can report to you that the pr Prime Minister will accept the 5. 5 pay minister will accept the 5. 5 pay rise, along with all other mps. That takes the mps pay to 91,346. But thats not the end of it. Because if youre a minister, you get another £67,000 for the cabinet ministers, down to £22,000 a year from the most junior. The pms pay goes up to £166,000. His top up is 75,000 extra. If youre keir starmer, you get nearly £50,000 extra on top of your mps pay select committee chairmen. They get an extra £17,000 a year and all this has a bearing on the pay offs given to mps like James Heappey when they leave parliament at the election. Theyre getting , four election. Theyre getting, four months net pay, not two months net pay. And that means after net pay. And that means after todays increase, theyll get £20,000 just to stop being an mp. Its a lot of money that doesnt include the pension they get , which is doesnt include the pension they get, which is of course, substantial and is guaranteed by the state forever, yeah. I mean, theres a debate to be had here. I think i can remember back to the day when mps voted on their pay the day when mps voted on their pay rises, after shortly around before after the mp expenses before and after the mp expenses scandal, at the telegraph and that brought in this new idea, this it was set independently. So in the lobby meeting just now with the Prime Ministers spokesman, he made very clear that the level is set by ipso. Its 5. 5. Its more than cpi inflation at 4. Its nearly twice the rate last year, which is 2. 9. But ipso do it independent of parliament and mps. So mps like even like in millionaire , like, rishi sunak, millionaire, like, rishi sunak, he is accepting that pay rise. He is accepting that pay rise. But Christopher Hope, do you correct me if im wrong . I believe the way that ipsa work this out is based on Public Sector pay awards. So its because nurses are getting more and because doctors are getting more, and because policemen are getting more, and because all of these Public Sector pay workers are getting more, on average, theyre getting 5, 5. 5 more. So thats what mps get, isnt that how it works . How it works . That is how ipso did it. Yeah, tom, that they normally they normally look at the inflation rate in september. I think it was quite from memory. It was a lot more than now. So they take a range, but they are trying to benchmark against other Public Sector pay deals. They want mps to be in the middle of that, try and take middle of that, to try and take the heat out of it. There was a time when David Cameron, as leader of the tories in opposition, refused to accept the wouldnt vote for the pay rise, wouldnt vote for it, his mps to number the pay rise, wouldnt vote for it, hiit mps to number the pay rise, wouldnt vote for it, hiit very to number the pay rise, wouldnt vote for it, hiit very clear number the pay rise, wouldnt vote for it, hiit very clear thatnber the pay rise, wouldnt vote for it, hiit very clear that the 10, make it very clear that the ministerial up on mp ministerial top up on mp salaries been frozen for salaries has been frozen for many years now, but that in other ways, though, mps are getting richer, some getting getting richer, some would theyre not would say, though, theyre not being 91,000 isnt being paid enough, 91,000 isnt enough to get someone, is it enough to get someone, is it enough to get a decent calibre of person in who can vote on laws . Well thats true christopher. Lots of people getting in touch, a few people. Lets say, getting they touch, a few people. Lets say, gettirthat, they touch, a few people. Lets say, gettirthat, mps they touch, a few people. Lets say, gettirthat, mps actuallythey touch, a few people. Lets say, gettirthat, mps actually deserve think that, mps actually deserve more money. And perhaps theyd be less useless they were be less useless if they were paid thats their words, paid more. Thats their words, not but christopher, a lot not mine. But christopher, a lot of tory mps. Another one bites the dust. James heale heappey Armed Forces Minister doesnt fancy again. Fancy running again. Yeah. James heappey, a very respected Armed Forces Minister, former, servicemen himself. Hes a 61st tory mp to stand down. 1 in 6 tory mps elected, 19 are now leaving , i think the now leaving, i think the comparison we should make is turning to the 2015 election. That was the last planned election. The previous two, in 17 and 19, were surprised elections. So mps can plan for this election. And thats why you see more people planning to leave. Also, mp tory mps are way behind in the polls. Thats part of it, he was selected for mendip hills, wells and mendip hills conservative association, thats a new seat. So his old seatis thats a new seat. So his old seat is being divided into four, roughly , i think a notional roughly, i think a notional majority of 10,000. Hes in his 40s. He wants a change, but hes a decent man. I think hed be well missed. No, certainly. And to follow on from, from brandon lewiss resignation as well. It seems that there are lots and lots of people leaving, but christopher , people leaving, but christopher, you have some news yourself about a new podcast youre launching here on gb news. Thanks, tom. Thats right. Its called choppers political podcast. My nickname is chopper goes back to an old email address i had when i was at the scotsman at the turn of the century, see, hope. But yeah, its were going to interview p0p its were going to interview pop stars and politicians , in pop stars and politicians, in a local pub in westminster, trying to get the inside track, the inside scoop for any viewers and listeners who want to tune in. Its on apple podcasts, spotify , its on apple podcasts, spotify, our website gb news. Com and youtube. Its a good listen. This week we started with a bang. Holly Holly Valance. Now she of course, was the pop star. The neighbours star, the kiss kiss star. She stood in the starred in the taken films with liam neeson. She emerged, didnt she, as this kind of new person backing right wing policies at the pop con event last month , the pop con event last month, and so shes quite interesting. And she had given us her first interview for about a decade. And heres what she had to say about nigel farage last time i voted conservatives. Voted conservatives. Next time ill be voting reform. Really . Yeah. Reform. Really . Yeah. You are youre youre youre. Well, i think the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. And im sure as hell not going to labour. Well, there you go. Theres a little taste of whats to come. Pop stars and politicians. Good stuff. Thank you very much. Showing range as always. Christopher hope, great to speak to Political Editor there. Now i wonder if have there ever been any politicians whove turned into pop stars . There was the band mp4 back in the early 20105, the band mp4 back in the early 2010s, which was made up of four mps, but i think they might have. Some of them might have lost their seats in the intervening years. It might have gone by the wayside, and we should say just about the mps. Of do. Other work, of course they do. Other work, not just in commons. So you not just in the commons. So you know, they do lots of work with their constituents other their constituents and other interests things are interests and lots of things are going as well. But it is going on as well. But it is quite telling that actually that time the commons making time in the commons making legislation at of legislation is at a bit of a record low. But in other news, and in a London Council will remove palestinian from its palestinian flags from its infrastructure after receiving hundreds of complaints from residents , including jewish residents, including jewish people distressed by their presence. Yes so Tower Hamlets in east london originally decided agai