Party success in the local elections, an opinion poll gives sir keir starmer a 30 point lead over the conservatives, which does not support the prime ministers quirky theory that we are headed for a hung parliament. Starmer seize the initiative on small boats as he announced his plans to use Counter Terror powers to smash people smuggling gangs. But does the loss of some muslim voters in the local elections . Nonetheless put pressure on starmer to pivot his partys stance on gaza, and looking north of the scottish border. Can john swinney and kate forbes steer the snp away from the gender and hate crime policies pursued by Nicola Sturgeon and humza yousaf . Ill discuss all of that with my political panel. The final of the Eurovision Song Contest took place last night, with switzerlands nemo picking up the crown. Theres been a lot of controversy in recent weeks about the uks representative Olly Alexander, who said that he was ambivalent about the union jack. Doctor eurovision himself. Doctor paul jordan will join us to share his insights on europes big night of music and, alas, of politics. Richard. Universities have been in the news this week with extraordinary scenes at oxford and cambridge caused by pro palestine protests. But such pro palestine protests. But such institutions may also be in deep financial trouble , it seems, as financial trouble, it seems, as the University Drop out rate has surged by over 28 over the last five years. Professor Karl Gombrich will answer whether universities need to adapt to significant new challenges, and arts editor of the express, Stefan Kyriazis, will, of course, be here to talk to us about his latest theatrical adventures. But before all of that, the headlines with tatiana sanchez. Michael. Thank you. The top stories this hour claims a british israeli hostage has died in gaza are being urgently investigated by the Foreign Office. Hamas says nadav popplewell, who was kidnapped dunng popplewell, who was kidnapped during the october attack in israel, was injured during an airstrike a month ago. The government says its seeking more information after the terrorist group made the claim. In a video. Undated footage of the 51 year old with a black eye confirming his name was also released, the Foreign Office reiterated its working with partners to secure the release of all hostages, including british nationals. Deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell condemned the actions of hamas. My heart goes out to the family at this extraordinary time with the barbarism of these appalling terrorists who , have appalling terrorists who, have treated the family in such a cynical , cruel treated the family in such a cynical, cruel and heartless way. And we must wait for further information to become available. But, what an appalling , dreadful experience appalling, dreadful experience for this poor family to have to suffer at the hands of this this absolutely dreadful terrorist organisation. Organisation. Tory defector Natalie Elphicke denies she lobbied the justice secretary over her then husbands sex offences trial. Sir Robert Buckland claims the mp , who crossed the floor to mp, who crossed the floor to laboun mp, who crossed the floor to labour, requested the case to be moved to a lower profile court. Speaking to the sunday times, he says she was told the request was completely inappropriate. Was completely inappropriate. Her spokesperson refuted the accusation, describing it as a nonsense. In the mail on sunday, mr elphicke ended the marriage when her husband was convicted of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years. Applications have opened for funded childcare and expansion on the governments current offer for working families. Parents of children who are older than nine months from september are now eligible for support. Parents of two year olds have been able to access 15 hours of funded childcare since last month. The full rollout last month. The full rollout will see support increase to 30 hours a week by september next year. Hours a week by september next year. Labour hours a week by september next year. Labour has hours a week by september next year. Labour has rejected a year. Labour has rejected a report claiming its fair pay agreements in social care could cost taxpayers £42 billion a yeah cost taxpayers £42 billion a year. The party says it wants to empower Adult Social Care professionals and trade unions that represent them, so they can negotiate better deals, the policy Exchange Think Tank says the total cost of the proposed wage rise in 2023 to 24 would have been at least £9. 9 billion per year. Labour says the claims are based on fiction and dont reflect party policy , and three reflect party policy, and three weather warnings for thunderstorms are in place across the country, with britains warm spell set to end this afternoon. Yesterday was confirmed as the hottest day of the year so far. Temperatures are forecast to hit 25 degrees again today in parts of southern and central england. But the forecast isnt all sunshine in Western Areas of england, wales, scotland and Northern Ireland. A met Office Yellow alert for thunderstorms with heavy showers is set to come into force from midday. For the latest stories midday. For the latest stories you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Comment alerts. Now back to michael i thank 5mm thank you. Tatiana sanchez. On friday, sir keir starmer announced his plans if elected to government to use Counter Terror powers to smash people smuggling gangs. The labour leader has already pledged to cancel the conservative governments scheme to send some Asylum Seekers to rwanda, which was passed into law last month. Sir keir starmer insists that our asylum system must be rebuilt, but has he really seized the initiative on small boats in the local elections , labour experienced an elections, labour experienced an 80 drop in its vote in areas of england where more than a fifth of people identify as muslim as you need to amend his stance on gaza, will a sectarian muslim party emerge in this country and in scotland . Can john sweeney and kate forbes steer the snp away from the gender and hate crime policies pursued by sturgeon and usaf without a party implosion . Consider these party implosion . Consider these matters i have with me. Columnists at the Daily Telegraph madeline grant former labour adviser matthew laza and former labour mp bill rammell. Very nice to see you all on the programme this morning. Madeleine can it possibly be that sir keir starmer has discovered a series of anti terror powers that would be open to a government to use that the conservative government has ignored . I dont think so at all. I think its a classic case of sort of proposing a new law when in fact the existing laws can be used. Theyve already been making arrests using the current legislation, it seems to me that what keir starmer was promising was very, very similar to what the conservatives have already been doing for some time. But been doing for some time. But removing the potential deterrent of rwanda, which for all its flaws, since it since they have actually began to send a limited number there , were now hearing, number there, were now hearing, for example, from ireland that the rwanda, possibility of, of rwanda as a deterrent was one of the things that was propelling people to choose ireland instead, so that were actually getting now some minimal evidence that its working. So it seems quite early to be pulling the plug on this. But i think that because the conservative policy has been so patchy and weak for such a long time, labour can actually get away with promising something thatis away with promising something that is essentially a fig leaf. That is essentially a fig leaf. It barely advances what the conservatives currently have at all. Matthew, i noticed that some Security Experts were in support of sir Keir Starmers announcement. What do you think announcement. What do you think it is that is new . It sounded to me like the development of a new body, the appointment of a new quango, which you will understand, doesnt fill me with a great deal of confidence. Did a great deal of confidence. Did you feel it was anything more than that . Yeah. I mean, actually its not really to establish a new quango. Its to in terms of a new agency. What it is to do is new agency. What it is to do is to bring the existing agencies together. So the two, the three kind of fresh elements are £75 million, taken from the endless budget of rwanda , to get more budget of rwanda, to get more enforcement officers, both to process claims , but also, on the process claims, but also, on the Law Enforcement side , on the Law Enforcement side, on the gangs. Secondly, to bring agencies together. So to use the approach that labour used in government, against terror groups after seven over seven. So thats making sure that things dont fall between the gaps between mi5, between the, you know, the counter between the Police Forces when they use we use the Counter Terrorism sections in those in the territorial Police Forces, and then finally it is to use the Counter Terror. And he hasnt found, as you asked madeleine. He hasnt found a whole new set of legislative legislation. Its legislation thats there. I dont understand for the life of me why the tory government doesnt use it, but it means things that you can do, like seize peoples phones before arrest, etc, which is not being done. And actually other countries have done it, particularly belgium, for example, taking phones has been a really strong way of them being able to trace back the gangs. It sounds like its not that its not that significant , that its not that significant, but actually in belgium, theyve doneit but actually in belgium, theyve done it to actually trace back through the gangs. So people say, oh, theyll just shut the phones over the side. Well, thats not what theyre doing because they make tiktoks. When people arrive on our shores and people arrive on our shores and people want their phones because they, you know, because they think they need them to link up with people when theyre here. So it will make a difference. I dont think anybodys pretending its a magic wand, though. Bill rammell just before the local elections, sir keir starmer announced a development of his policy towards those people arriving on small boats, which sounded, to many people a bit like an amnesty. It sounded like, you know, the people in the system, they were going to be processed very fast and basically they were going to be granted their asylum claims. Thats that seemed like a weak flank. That seemed like opening up territory for the conservatives. Was that your reaction to it . No i dont think it was in any sense an amnesty. But speeding up the process of asylum claims is absolutely critical, because thats one of the biggest pull factors attracting people to come here illegally and try to claim asylum. They know their claims will not be dealt with for years, and they can disappear into the black economy and work. So speeding up the process of claims is critical, but i think that the new policy articulation is important. Yes, its the is important. Yes, its the elites Border Security force , elites Border Security force, but its also a commitment to negotiate a returns agreement with the European Union, effectively taking us back into the dublin convention, which means you can then send people back to the First European Union country that they arrive within. And that would help us significantly that for those who are rejected, we can send them back. But the European Union wont do us any favours, will it, bill . I mean, presumably we would be asked to enter into a burden sharing agreement between Northern European countries. In other words, we would take a share that share might turn out to be more than were already receiving. Were not going to go for that burden sharing agreement. But my understanding is that we would look at if people have got family members within the uk, we would look at those people. But i think, look, you know, before we left the European Union, whatever one thinks about that decision, we didnt have this massive boats crisis coming across the english channel. Weve got to cooperate with the European Union. Weve got to get returns agreements and weve got to process claims faster. Madeleine, putting aside the fact that you might be a tory sympathiser , do you think sympathiser, do you think analytically that labour has succeeded here in seizing the initiative . I suppose perhaps in the most short term way. But i think as soon as there starts to be real scrutiny of what their plans are, its not its not really going to hold up. I think that fundamentally, if you dont have a kind of third country in which you can, you can take people to, you can, you can take people to, you havent got that fundamental deterrent that makes this a less attractive place to come and visit. And i dont think that the possibility of having your phone swiped is going to be the great determiner there. I think you have to look at the, the, the, the fundamental mental reality and the fundamental things that make this a very attractive country. And i think that rwanda, for all its faults , that rwanda, for all its faults, was closer to creating a serious, serious obstacle there. But but im going to move on, if i may. Bill, matthew, ive been quite impressed in one respect. I emphasise that by sir keir starmer, which is the ways more or less held the line on gaza, do you the local Election Results with, with the losses that labour sustained in areas where there was a large muslim population, do they mean that he should be changing his policy on gaza . No, because he should continue to do what he thinks is right and what i think the electorate think is right. And frankly, its a policy thats similar to that of the uk government. The us president and many other governments around the world. And he hasnt given in to pressure, which there is now. I mean, hes in the fortunate position that if you end up losing 1 or 2 mps, which is basically youre talking one, two, maybe three at the outside to either , you know, to to either, you know, to independent pro palestine candidates , if youre, you know, candidates, if youre, you know, be looking at winning seats across the country, you can afford that. Itll be more afford that. Itll be more difficult to say this was the last, you know, if it was, if it was in the position of the tories at the moment where every seat counted, as it were, then it would be more difficult, or if you were in the position that gordon brown was in in 2010, it would have been more difficult in that electoral arithmetic, bill, a bit of analysis. Do you think the emergence of a sectarian Muslim Political party is likely or even inevitable . Is likely or even inevitable . Well, i think weve effectively got a muslim Sectarian Party in the body of the Workers Party under George Galloway and undoubtedly we lost some votes to that party at the local elections. So i dont think we need to pivot in terms of our position, but i think weve got a better articulate it and weve got to rebut some of the misrepresentation of labours position on the far left and by some people in muslim communities. And weve got to make clear that for an incoming Labour Government, as it was for the last Labour Government working, pressuring for a two state solution with a viable state for palestinians is going to be a key priority for that Labour Government. But i think if we tried to pivot from our position now and effectively acquiesce with what hamas have done, one, it would be totally wrong. But two, it wouldnt work politically. Madeleine, do you mind if i move you on to scotland and more analysis . Do you think this new combination of john swinney and kate forbes can can bring the snp from where it has been to a more centrist position, maybe a position where it can begin to attract votes back from labour without an implosion within the snp . Good question. I mean, i think , i think thats certainly think, i think thats certainly what john swinney would like to do. It does seem like he was very closely connected with Nicola Sturgeon , obviously, and Nicola Sturgeon, obviously, and it seems like freed from the yoke of Nicola Sturgeon, he is adopting a more centrist position. He, for example, he spoke about his, profound christian faith, which is not something that hed really talked about openly very much. I guess hes now trying to speak in kate forbes language a little bit. But, you know, theyre going to be in real difficulty there because obviously they are now in a minority government and the greens have already i think theyre feeling quite embittered about the breakdown of their, electoral pact with the snp. You know, they used the first his first outing in first ministers questions to go off to her and her social conservatism. And her social conservatism. And although i think there is a growing recognition , within some growing recognition, within some sections of the snp that rightly , theyve been accused of not focusing on the things that really matter to the scottish people, bu