Prince harry in london loads to talk about chaos in the asylum system. Well be joined by Jonathan Gillis about that dramatic defection. Later on. He will give it both barrels , no will give it both barrels, no doubt. What do you make of this defection . Should it even be allowed . Natalie. Elphicke been very, very critical of sir keir starmer, basically saying he favours open borders now. Hey presto. Suddenly, on the eve of a general election , she defects a general election, she defects to a party. Shes done nothing but criticise for years and years. Do you buy this . Is this an onorable defection or is something fishy going on down there in dover . Whats her career about to head off the white cliffs of dover . Thelma and louise style. And this is about a dramatic way of making her seem like one of the good guys, not one of those whos spectacularly failed to control our borders for all of these years. Get in touch. As you can tell, im hyped. I hope you are too. Get in touch gbnews. Com yoursay say. But before all of that is your headunes before all of that is your headlines and its tatiana sanchez. Martin. Thank you. The top stories from the gb news room. The conservative mp for dover stunned her colleagues this afternoon, crossing the floor and joining the labour party. Nats lee elphicke blamed her decision on what she called the broken promises of rishi sunak. Tired and chaotic government. Its the latest in a dramatic drop in the governments working majority since the last general election, from more than 80 seats to less than 50. Todays defection was announced just moments before sir keir starmer spoke during Prime Ministers questions. If one week a tory mp whos also a doctor , says the prime also a doctor, says the Prime Minister cant be trusted with the nhs and joins labour. And the nhs and joins labour. And the next week the tory mp for doven the next week the tory mp for dover, on the front line of the small boats crisis, says the Prime Minister cannot be trusted with our borders and joins laboun with our borders and joins labour. What is the point of this failed government . Staggering on. The Prime Minister steered clear of labours newest mp and instead paid tribute to the now former mayor of the West Midlands. Let me join with him in congratulate all new and paying tribute to all former councillors. Pc and mayors across the country. I hope his i hope his new ones do him as proud as i am of all of mine. Mr speaken proud as i am of all of mine. Mr speaker, great leaders, great leaders like andy street, great leaders like andy street, great leaders like andy street, great leaders like andy street who leave behind a strong legacy of more homes, more jobs, and more investment. In sharp contrast to the legacy left by the last labour government, which was a letter joking that there was no money left. Money left. Speaking shortly after defecting, miss elphicke says theres a Brighter Future under a labour government. In 2019, the conservatives stood on a manifesto that was very much Centre Ground. But under rishi sunak theyve abandoned the Centre Ground and broken many election promises. Meanwhile, under keir starmer, labour have changed and i think that change is going to bring a much Better Future for our country. And thats why im so keen to join the labour party and play my part in bringing that important future forward. That important future forward. In other news, Banking Group tsb will close 36 branches and cut 250 jobs across its business as more customers opt for online banking. Most of the lost positions will be in the banks fraud department. Central operations and high street branches. Tsb says its closing branches. Tsb says its closing branches because not enough people are choosing to use them. People are choosing to use them. About 96 of transactions take place outside of a branch, while in store transactions have fallen by 43 over the past four years. Scotlands new first minister has appointed kate forbes as his deputy. The former finance secretary says shes deeply honoured to accept the invitation. Miss forbes, who ran against humza yousaf for the top job, takes over from shona robison, who remains in cabinet in another position. Social in another position. Social Media Companies are being warned they could be banned for those under the age of 18 if they dont keep children safe. The media regulator ofcom says platforms must take action to stop their algorithms recommending harmful content to children. Its draft childrens children. Its draft childrens safety codes of practice sets out how to expect some of the worlds Biggest Online platforms to protect Children Online, and penalties for companies who fail to comply by Energy Security and net zero. Secretary Claire Coutinho told gb news the uk aims to be the safest in the world. When i was childrens minister i looked at wellbeing and one of the things that i was really interested in was the link between how much time our children are spending online and their Mental Health, and for me, there was two things. Its what they could access, and im really pleased that were doing the Online Safety legislation because that that will tackle that part. But its also what its stopping them doing. So thats the things that i care about. I definitely welcome governments efforts to act on this and make sure that were the safest place in the country when it comes to sorry in the world. When it comes to being onune world. When it comes to being online for children , rail online for children, rail passengers are being hit by more strikes today with little or no service on many lines. The industrys longest pay dispute is affecting services across england, wales and scotland. The aslef union says its members havent had a pay rise in five years, and is accusing the government of giving up trying to resolve the dispute and visitors to brightons iconic pier will soon be forced to pay for admission amid a steep rise in maintenance costs. The piers management says the cost of maintaining and repairing the grade two listed landmark has soared by 31, adding around £2. 7 million to the annual budget. Visitors will the annual budget. Visitors will now be asked to pay an entry fee of £1, though local residents will be exempt. For the latest will be exempt. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen , or go to gb code on your screen, or go to gb news. Common alerts now back to. Martin. Thank you. Tatiana. Right lets get cracking. And we start with yet more miserable for news the Prime Minister as tory mp Natalie Elphicke, a spectacular. Natalie elphicke, a spectacular. He defected to labour this afternoon, hitting out what she described as the broken promises of rishi sunaks tired and chaotic government. Well, the dover mp crossed the floor in the house of commons just moments before pmqs earlier on today. And in her statement, she said from small boats to bio security, rishi sunaks government is failing to keep our borders safe and secure. Live or being lost in the engush live or being lost in the English Channel, while small boat arrivals are once again at record levels. She went on its clear they have failed to keep our border secure and cannot be trusted. Well, explosive stuff and joining me now to discuss this in the studio is gb news Political Correspondent , olivia Political Correspondent, olivia utley. And im also joined by gb news senior political commentator nigel nelson. Nigel olivier, welcome to the show, olivia. Lets start with you. People are saying that even by defection standards, this is spectacular politically. Couldnt be further apart. Youd imagine from sir keir starmer being very critical of Starmers Labour Party on slack borders, on open borders and hey presto, a dramatic flip. Well pretty much everyone in the house of commons today was hugely, hugely surprised by this shock defection. I was in the chamber and quite a lot of people missed Keir Starmers statement at the beginning and there were conservative mps who had no idea what was happening when they saw Natalie Elphicke on the labour backbenches. It looks of just extreme bafflement and actually it goes deeper than bafflement. There is real anger on the conservative benches. There are conservative benches. There are mps who stood beside Natalie Elphicke when her ex husband charlie elphicke, was going through that trial for sexual abuse. Natalie elphicke, very much needed friends at the time. She had friends in the conservative party they feel as though shes been enormously disloyal. Then there are conservative mps who are really, really cynical about the whole thing. Most conservative mps ive spoken to believe themselves to be to the left of Natalie Elphicke. One said that there was no room on the on the right of Natalie Elphicke for anyone because she is so right wing. But even by conservative party standards, they are deeply confused and believe that Natalie Elphicke has only done this because she knows what side her bread is buttered. We all know which way the next general election is heading, and she is perhaps hoping for a peerage in the next labour government. Now, the next labour government. Now, is that the case . Well, why has she done that . Whats so strange about the whole thing is like dan poulter, who who defected two weeks ago, Natalie Elphicke doesnt plan to stand in the next general election. She was next general election. She was planning to stand. She wasnt. She hadnt announced that she was standing down already, but now she just wants to hold the seat of dover up until the election. And then the current labour candidate , mike tapp, labour candidate, mike tapp, will take over. So why has she decided to dig the knife in at this late stage . According to her statement. A lot of it is about housing. There is a there are few mentions of immigration. She, of course is on the front line of the immigration debate as the mp for dover. But most of what she says is about housing. If you look at this in the sort of kindest way possible, anyone who believes that Natalie Elphicke is doing this for sort of the right reasons, the reason would be that she believes that the conservative party simply isnt building enough houses and actually to give her her due. If you look back at her track record, she has always been a yimby. Yes, in my back yard , yimby. Yes, in my back yard, sort of an mp. So those are her sort of an mp. So those are her sort of an mp. So those are her sort of given reasons , as her sort of given reasons, as her friends would say, that that is why shes defecting. But at the moment, both conservative mps are angry, either because they believe shes been very disloyal or because theyre very cynical about the whole thing. And about the whole thing. And labour mps are pretty angry, too. They dont think that keir starmer should have accepted someone with views quite so different from the mainstream labour party. Okay, nigel nelson, thats an opportune moment to bring you. Opportune moment to bring you. And i understand why sir keir starmer would accept this defection, because it would say to the voters, well, if Natalie Elphicke can change stripes , so elphicke can change stripes, so can i. And isnt that what sir keir starmer wants . But heres keir starmer wants . But heres a seat. Thats only been labour four times in the past century, 1997, when that was the blair effect. But since then, not a effect. But since then, not a sausage, not a sniff of labour getting into power. Whats in it for her . Am i being cynical when i think her career is going off the cliffs of dover as it was, and she wants to get out of politics, pull the rip cord and dress herself as what . It wasnt my fault that we couldnt stop the boats. I was one of the good guys. I defected. Is this a guys. I defected. Is this a blatant act of self preservation, reputation wise . Well, it depends what she does next. I mean, olivias mentioned that the rumours certainly are that she doesnt want to stay in politics, that she will leave at this election, she will leave at this election, she hadnt announced that, so she hadnt announced that, so she would carry on being the mp for dover until the election. What labour said today was shes free to apply for other seats, but gave no indication about whether she would do so. The party wont want that, will they . Well, i mean, shes now a labour party member. Other mps, i mean, they would naturally think theyd be. Theyd be genetically opposed to everything she stands for. There are a number of labour mps who are not comfortable with this that, Natalie Elphicke was associated with the right wing European Research group previously. So theyre a little un keen on this. And also the things she said about slagged keir starmer off on immigration all the way through repeatedly , so i think that repeatedly, so i think that olivias got got a point that she is keen on the housing thing, that she feels the tories have broken their promise to build 300,000 houses. Thats what they said in the manifesto. What they said in the manifesto. So theyll be lucky to get to half that. So that part makes sense. The bit that doesnt quite make sense is in a statement she talks about the tory party is going away from the centre, that she is a centrist. Well as olivia just said, that tory mps dont reckon that she was very centre. The next question is are the dominoes going to continue to fall if elphicke can flip , then fall if elphicke can flip, then anybody can. At least thats what people will be thinking within the labour party and the conservative party. As you said, we saw we saw poulter go. Weve seen lee anderson go. Of course, this is this now makes it three. Threes a crowd. Will there be more. Well already the conservative majority since the last general election has nearly halved. Astonishingly, there were 80. The conservative majority of 80. Now its more like 40. Will any more defect to labour . Well, this one came as such a shock. It sort of impossible to predict what comes next. But keir starmer has said that hes having conversations with all sorts of people. He was asked earlier today whether our very own nigel farage would be welcomed into the labour party, and he didnt actually say no. Itll be really interesting to see. Im not suggesting for a moment that the looking glass, nigel farage, will be joining the labour party , but it is the labour party, but it is interesting that keir starmer essentially isnt ruling out anyone joining the labour party at this stage. Itll be fascinating to see how labour mps react to this because starmer, obviously for him its fantastic. If people defect from the conservatives to labour, its a show of his strength and a show of rishi sunak weakness. But plenty of conservative mps dont like the idea of someone like Natalie Elphicke, who as nigel says, was, you know, in the erg in the European Research group , very right wing group of group, very right wing group of mps. She was in the group of new conservatives and other really right wing grouping of conservative mps and perhaps most controversially of all, she did defended her ex husband all the way through his trial for sexual abuse. And even after his conviction, she said that hed been punished for being attracted to women and attractive to women, which comments which really dont sort of reconcile with what the labour party has to say about relationships between men and women. I expect therell be quite a lot of conservative female mp , labour female mps who female mp, labour female mps who feel very upset about this, and nigel, such talk of nigel not being rejected from the labour party. I mean, i mean whats in my tea and also Carol Vorderman was welcoming of Natalie Elphicke. I thought, hang on a minute, you know, five minutes ago you hated the moral fibre of every single conservative on the planet. Now anybody is welcome. Anybody is welcome. Whats going on . Well, i think politics has gone pretty topsy turvy over the last few months, which is the answer to that. Months, which is the answer to that. I months, which is the answer to that. I really months, which is the answer to that. I really cant see, nigel that. I really cant see, nigel farage joining the labour party. Im not sure hed want to anyway, even if he was invited. Anyway, even if he was invited. And i dont think labour, i think that really would be, a step too far for labour mps. But one of the reasons that there isnt a leadership challenge against rishi sunak is that conservative mps realise there would be a no more defections, especially from the moderate wing of the party. If you try to unseat the Prime Minister at this point, and yes, i think that you might find others what, of course they ought to do. Any mp who defects ought to call a by election immediately. Yeah, that probably wont happen. Lets quickly move on, because elsewhere Robert Jenrick has called for the home office to be broken up to kerb migration , and the former migration, and the former immigration minister said it is incapable of controlling immigration and securing the uks borders , whilst outlining uks borders, whilst outlining a 30 point plan to cut legal migration , including creating migration, including creating a new department whose sole mission is controlling immigration. Well, lets return to olivia utley now. Olivia, this sounds like a decent idea on paper, the home office doesnt seem to do much of a decent job. But heres the point. Is this a case of the conservative party themselves a spectacularly failed to control our bor