Peace process. We want to see a two state solution based on 1967 borders, land swaps between those two countries, an agreement on jerusalem, an agreement on jerusalem, an agreement on jerusalem, an agreement on the right of return. How could you do that as a government if benjamin is a Peace Process, how could you . How could you do that if, as a government, you, you know, if you win the next election , you you win the next election, you would be supportive of calls for Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested and potentially sent to the hague if he ever stepped foot in britain. Well, the agreement, the bafis well, the agreement, the basis of any peaceful resolution to conflict, is always got to be the rule of law. So i cant ask you the question the other way round. I cant see how you could propose a long term peace settlement in the middle east if it wasnt going to be underpinned by International Law, by partners agreeing security and respect for palestinians and israelis alongside each other. Lets not forget, this is this is a conflict which is not a zero sum game. What israel needs is a is a palestinian state alongside it that gives it security and a long term peace settlement. The palestinians need their own state and dignity too. So that has got to be the basis of a Peace Process and an International Law has surely got to be the basis by which those two sides agree to do that. Are you worried about losing the muslim vote . I take nothing for granted when it comes to any community now. I think in any part of the uk , from the top of scotland to uk, from the top of scotland to cornwall, labour is the only competitive party. The only party that can say if you want a change from the present government, were your vehicle to do that, but we will take seriously and always take seriously and always take seriously the needs and concerns of every community. Because, lets be frank, weve had all these opinion polls, not a single vote has been cast and will not be cast for a long penod will not be cast for a long period of time. So we will take absolutely nothing for granted. But we will campaign for the bafis but we will campaign for the basis of the change the uk needs. Okay. And look just to, to okay. And look just to, to bnng okay. And look just to, to bring us, bring us back extra domestic. Now labour apparently wants to make it easier to change gender, a vote for labour is a vote for more blokes in womens changing rooms. Is it . Womens changing rooms. Is it . No. I think we want to treat every community in the uk with dignity and respect. We are dignity and respect. We are committed to single sex spaces. We think thats an important part as it is already under the equality act. So we arent proposing any changes there. But as a conversation , as a as a as a conversation, as a as a part of a general election campaign, i would hope everyone, politicians and broadcasters would treat every community with the respect that surely they all deserve, okay. Look, just on the economy , inflation is now at its economy, inflation is now at its low. I suspect this might be one of the reasons why rishi sunak decided to call this election in the driving rain outside downing street, while steve bray screamed at him, by the way. But inflation is now at its lowest level for around three years anyway. It could be argued, couldnt it, that the tories have steadied the ship a bit here . That the end of record taxation is in sight . We can practically smell the money that. But to meet your spending commitments, as i understand it, i dont think that non doms and vat on private schools is going to cut it. Okay, there is a fear that you might smash, you know, with inheritance tax, with Capital Gains tax, with cutting tax relief on pensions contributions, battering second home owners, introducing a wealth tax. Are you going to make us poorer . Make us poorer . No, we have taxes at historically high levels under the conservative party and quite Poor Public Services at the same time. Thats because the economy hasnt grown anything like anyone would have wanted it to grow for the last 14 years. On things like business investment, on productivity. Theyve dropped off a cliff in the last 14 years. That is why people at the end of this parliament will be worse off than they were at the beginning, and theres no way to avoid that. That is the conservative record on the economy. We have ruled out all of the things that youve just said. We have put forward where we want to see improvements, switch spends. So, yes, to employ 6500 additional teachers in state schools, we will charge vat and Business Rates on private education. Thats a very small part of the population. Its a pragmatic response to putting more money into state education. We will not have the big loopholes in the change. On the non dom taxation policy. The government have had. You cant put your foreign assets into trust under labour and therefore theres more revenue that will pay theres more revenue that will pay for the 40,000 extra nhs procedures every week that will be available under a Labour Government. We will do some some government. We will do some some changes to how private Equity Income is taxed to provide, again, an improvement in public services. More support for young people in terms of Mental Health in schools and breakfast homes. In schools and breakfast homes. But these are the these are the choices that will be available. These are switch spins of things we would do differently that would bring about an immediate improvement. I know some people, quite a lot of people actually will say, look, there are so many problems in the uk right now. How can anyone make a difference . How can any general election or politics make a difference . Well, i think you do that by showing those practical first steps you would take. Weve got six in the labour party. They include the things ive just mentioned and thats how we will start. Youve pre empted youve pre empted national renewal, which is so essential youve pre empted my final question to you and thank you very much for your time, but i im going to ask to ask, can you do one better than wes streeting . Come on, give us the give us the six pledges. Well, they are first of all, economic stability. So we never repeat the disaster of liz truss. The second first step is the 40,000 extra nhs procedures every week. The third procedure is the pledge on illegal immigration, which weve just discussed on this. The fourth is switching on gb energy. Really switching on gb energy. Really excited by this. A new state Energy Company working with the private sector on those energy things. The fifth is tackling anti social behaviour because well do the Police Efficiency programme more Police Officers and pc s ors and the 60s. The 6500 teachers, the sixth well get under a Labour Government. Thank you. All right thank you. All right jonathan, look, thank you very much, mr reynolds. Great to have you on the show. And no doubt you on the show. And no doubt well be talking to you a bit more over the next six weeks. Take care. All right. That is the shadow business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds there. Fair play Jonathan Reynolds there. Fair play to him, i must say, for at least getting at least getting all of those six. Right. Okay so its on. Its happening. The election has been called and we will have a general election on the 4th of july. This election will take place at a time when the world is more dangerous than it has been since the end of the cold war. Keir starmer immediately hit back night. The Prime Minister has finally announced the next general election, a moment the country needs and has been waiting for. June. July the 4th is the date that britain decides. But is this the right time to call it . Lets have a little look, shall we . Rishi sunak is expecting flights to rwanda to take off the ground in the first week of july, and now european nafions week of july, and now european nations are copying us. Indeed, what weve just seen in the last few weeks is 15 eu countries actually all making the same point that thats what this this requires. Thats why our rwanda scheme is so important. Well, the tories have apparently deported 10,000 people back to their home country. Thats 2000 up on this time last year on the economy. Inflation has fallen to its lowest level in almost three years. Our economy is now growing faster than anyone predicted, outpacing germany, france and the united states. And this morning it was confirmed that inflation is back to normal. This means that the pressure on pnces this means that the pressure on prices will ease and Mortgage Rates will come down. This is proof that the plan and priorities i set out are working on legal immigration. Today, it was announced that there has been an 80 fall in students bringing their dependents over. Good. Theres been a 58 fall in care workers bringing their dependents over. Good tomorrow the net migration numbers will be revealed and its expected that those numbers will be much lower than the figure of 672,000 last year. Although many people will still think that is way too high. Sunak will have looked at what the labour party has done this week. And you heard me questioning Jonathan Reynolds on some of this stuff earlier on. Theyve decided essentially to make an enemy of israel. Some would say labours position is that the decision by the International Criminal court chief prosecutor to apply for arrest warrants is an indication that matter for the court and the prosecutor, and labour believes that the uk and all parties to the rome statute have a legal obligation to comply with orders and warrants issued by the court. Labour wants to make it easier for people to change gender. This means that rishi sunak can go to the polls and tell you, the voter, that a vote for labour is a for vote more blokes in womens changing rooms. But with all of these polling companies, look at that list. Theyre putting labour ahead of the tories and the latest poll showing that labour has a 17 point lead over the conservatives. Rishi sunak certainly has a mountain to climb. And so we have a little reminder there it is of how that climb started. Rishi sunak standing , getting soaked in the standing, getting soaked in the driving rain while someone down drowned out his speech with the song. Things can only get better. And this morning it was confirmed that inflation is back to normal. To normal. Well, lets have a little compare, shall we, to keir starmer , a lectern with the word starmer, a lectern with the word change on it inside and two union flags clearly audible. Union flags clearly audible. Most importantly of all, we do all this with a new spirit of service as country, first, party second. Well, the question is all this really, arent they . Hows rishi sunak pick the right moment to call an election or has he lost it before . Its even started . Lets get the thoughts from our panel. Weve got the director of popular conservatives, mark littlewood, businessman and activist adam brooks , an author and brooks, an author and journalist, rebecca reid. And i journalist, rebecca reid. And i am actually tempted to start, by the way, with with that breaking news that we had earlier from our Political Editor, Christopher Hope. And ill put this to you, mark. Apparently there is an ongoing plot by conservatives to stop this election. Yeah. I mean, this sounds ludicrous to me as i understand the rules. You could still the rules. You could still trigger a leadership election in the conservative party i mean, it would be a death wish of all death wishes. Now, rishi has called the election, but to achieve that, youd need 53. I think it is. Conservative mps would have to write a letter to graham brady. They still have the technical ability to do that. They would then be a vote of no confidence that sunak would almost certainly win overwhelmingly. So its not just triggering the 53 to call that no confidence motion. You then no confidence motion. You then need 175 to go along with this plan. They have nowhere near plan. They have nowhere near that level of support. So i think actually if this gets off the ground any more than it already has, it makes the conservative party and the plotters look even more preposterous. If people had wanted to get rid of rishi sunak, they needed to do this 6 or 12 months ago. And there has never been sufficient support to even trigger a contest, were warned. They were warned. You know how bad things are going to get under rishi, right . But im just saying they could have i mean, its required 53 tory mps at any time to trigger that contest, then about 170 to remove the leader of the party. You cant try doing this on the day the leaders called an election. When you look at when you listen to Jonathan Reynolds, so confident and competent and quiet and gentle and thoughtful, can i just look at that . And i look at this silly, child like nonsense. Yeah, right. I get that he was able to talk. Yeah. Yeah. Which is, by the way , the which is, by the way, the least tsitsipas. And he does seem like quite a nice chap. All right. Having not actually met him personally. One thing i will say, though, is he wasnt particularly strong at all when it came to the gender stuff, which is going to play a big part if the conservatives get their backside in gear and decide to do something on that, its not the platform and labour are going to have an Asylum Seeker amnesty essentially for about 90 odd thousand, save money in the long term, but is better to do that. And then the problem, the problem is of course, theyre all going to be brain surgeons, are they . Youve got a what . So sorry. People who are brown cant be brain surgeons. No muslim people from other countries cant be brain surgeons. I was in the middle of it to make people. I was in the middle of a list arade dam i hadnt finished my list. You always try to make people look like theyre racist or homophobic in the middle of a do it to me every week. Now youre doing it to patrick. Its a bad, bad trade. Every week i try and make you seem homophobic or racist. Lets deal with them every week. Lets deal with the m atter. Matter. Why would that be easy . Why would that be easy . Lets deal with the matter in hand. Which is which is what we were saying there, really. Which is that its all very well and good. Keir starmer having some of these six pledges. However, there are concerns and Jonathan Reynolds was not necessarily able to just swat away things that people will care about, which which is the Asylum Seeker backlog. I think even you couldnt help liking him in that interview. The problem is he hasnt got 13 years of failure behind him. Hes got a blank slate and whatever your Party Politics are, its got to be easier to have a clean, blank, fresh piece of paper, which is what theyve got now. And if i think im asking you this because i think youd represent a huge amount of our viewers and listeners, and i dont mind saying that is one of the main reasons, apart from the fact that we just like you generally that we get get you on this show all the time. How are you going to vote at the minute . I do not trust said it last week. I do not trust the tories and i do not trust labour for many reasons. Im going to vote green, arent you, at the moment i cant bring myself to vote, which is a terrible thing, because then i cant moan about what happens in the future. I think you will anyway , what i think you will anyway, what i do believe is that the Political Class of this country forgot that they are meant to represent us. They suddenly started believing over the last four years that they control us. Its gone to their heads. These. Theres so many arrogant, power hungry people now in our parliament. People like myself and many others that i speak to have lost all trust in uk politics. Now, you know, reform of set up. And i like a lot of things that they say, are they ready to get my vote at the moment . No theyre not. Were in a dire state in this country and no one trusts. Well, the majority of people i speak to do not trust uk politicians. Okay, well, look, rishi sunak has had mixed success with his five pledges, but at least he has kept one promise. So look, my working assumption is well have a general election in the second half of this year. And in the meantime, ive got lots that i want to get on with. I said in january, my working assumption is that the election will be in the second half of the year. Ive said what ive said about an election multiple times before. My working and working assumption is for an election in the second half of the year. Spoiler alert there is going to be a general election in the second half of this year. Well, it is in the second half of this year. Is the timing right, mark . Well, i mean, as i was saying, at the top of the show, patrick, i think it probably would have been better to wait till november, but probably also wouldnt have made much difference. It would have required Something Big to come along in. In the meantime, it is in the second half of next year by four days, right . I mean actually a bit less than that because february is a short month. Hes kept his promise by 72 hours. Otherwise it would have been in the early part of the im not im not too sure hes got the timing right, but look whats going to happen. You were brilliant at asking Jonathan Reynolds to recount the six pledges. Believe me, in a couple of weeks time they will be ear worming in your head. You will be bored of them over and over again. This is whats going to happen. The labor party is going to try and essentially bore people into submission, saying virtually nothing, and hope that disillusionment with the conservative is sufficient to get them over the line. Thats their strategy. The conservative tvs have got to lay a glove on the labour party, which they have not done a very good job in recent weeks and months, and to sort of have some fear about what a change of government might bring about. Thats what were going to see for the next 44 days. I think the gap will close from the polls today. I really do think it will. Lets just