News for the conservatives came in the form of an official recession , with gdp falling 0. 3 recession, with gdp falling 0. 3 in the final few months of last yeah in the final few months of last year. Britain endured two successive quarters of economic contraction. Rishi insists that contraction. Rishi insists that his plan is working, but how much responsibility does he bear for the grim Economic News . Ukrainian forces are on the back foot as they retreat from the eastern town of avdiivka, where Russian Forces threatened to surround them if, as some analysts predict , other european analysts predict, other European Countries will find themselves in a similar shooting match with russia in the next decade , how russia in the next decade, how would they fare . Max jeffrey has just returned from estonia , just returned from estonia, where he observed nato forces taking part in military training exercises. He will join me to discuss what he saw and found , discuss what he saw and found, and for the sting in the tale of the first hour of the program, Stefan Kyriazis has been the busiest of bees this week , busiest of bees this week, taking in four new Theatrical Productions, including a musical about live aid and the latest effort from star playwright jez butterworth. All of that to come, but first, your headlines with sophia wenzler. Thank you michael. Good morning. Its 11 00. Im sophia morning. Its11 00. Im sophia wenzler in the gb news room. The wenzler in the gb news room. The white house has blamed inaction by republicans in the us congress for russias capture of ukrainian city. Kyiv ordered the withdrawal of troops from the eastern city of avdiivka early yesterday, giving moscow its first major gain since the fall of bakhmut last year. Us President Joe Biden warned last week that a shortage of ammunition in ukraine could see the city fall into russian hands as he pushed republicans to urgently pass more military aid. Russian president Vladimir Putin praised the citys capture, calling it an important victory. Former senior military Intelligence OfficerPhilip Ingram told gb news ukraine needs more support , loss of needs more support, loss of avdfivka needs more support, loss of avdiivka is significant. Um, the ukrainians have been holding on to that since 2014. Um and fighting the russians. But theyve made the sensible military decision not to sacrifice any more of their troops to keep this completely decimated piece of territory. Um, the russians are making some advances from a one dimensional perspective on the frontline. But but these advances are are tiny at the moment, and its purely because russia has got more ammunition from north korea and from iran. Um, and the ukrainians are suffering a shortage of ammunition coming from the west. From the west. Meanwhile, more than 400 people have been detained across 32 russian cities since the death of Alexei Navalny on friday. Its the biggest wave of unrest since september 2022, when more than 1300 were arrested for protesting against forced military service. Part of president putins effort to cover heavy casualties endured in ukraine. Russian state media, which is controlled by the government, has made no mention of the arrests or the many Memorial Services for mr navalny. Meanwhile, authorities have been accused of doing everything they can to avoid handing over mr navalnys body to his family. Yesterday, the 69 year old mother of Vladimir Putins most vocal critic visited the remote penal colony where he died. She says she was told his body had been taken to a nearby morgue. But when she arrived there, she found it closed. Mr navalnys spokespeople claim his death was orchestrated murder by the russian president. Thats been rejected by the kremlin. Political analyst and russian exile Valery Morozov told gb news. It looks like revenge, but it was a payback for navalny and the people who were behind , and the people who were behind, and theyve just decided that , you theyve just decided that, you know, putin has enough support about 70 or 80, uh , there is no about 70 or 80, uh, there is no problem. And just to get rid of navalny , theyve sent him from navalny, theyve sent him from the prison, which was about 200km from moscow to the far north. And let him stay there and die. And die. Ukrainian refugees will be offered an 18 month visa extension to stay in the uk. It means ukrainians who had to flee their home after russias invasion will be able to stay in britain until. Invasion will be able to stay in britain until. At least britain until. At least september 2026. In other news, two ministers have written to Police Chiefs to express concerns over the safety of politicians amid increased protests. Security minister tom protests. Security minister Tom Tugendhat and policing minister chris philp took the unusual step after pro palestinian activists gathered outside the home of tobias ellwood. They say home of tobias ellwood. They say current laws allow for protests to be directed away from residential areas, and theyre encouraging police to make robust use of them. It comes as robust use of them. It comes as reports in the daily mail suggest Just Stop Oil activists are planning to occupy the homes of mps , with one protester of mps, with one protester reportedly telling a journalist the group is ready to look a bit loony. The foreign secretary loony. The foreign secretary will visit the Falkland Islands amid calls in argentina for talks on the future of the archipelago. Lord cameron archipelago. Lord cameron insists the sovereignty of the territory will not be up for discussion as he prepares for the first visit by cabinet minister since 2016. Last month , minister since 2016. Last month, argentinas new president , javier milei , called for the javier milei, called for the islands to be handed over to his country despite being under british rule since 1883. A vote in 2013 found almost all residents prefer to remain part of the united kingdom. A violent of the united kingdom. A violent riot erupted on the streets of the hague last night after Anti Government groups clashed with rival communities. What started as a peaceful Eritrean Community meetings last night endedin Community Meetings last night ended in violence with the police cars torched and objects thrown at officers. A video thrown at officers. A video shared online showed groups of people setting fire to cars and engaging in violence. The hague engaging in violence. The hague mayor says an emergency order was issued and Police Presence has been increased. And for the has been increased. And for the latest stories , sign up to gb 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 its news. Com slash alerts. Now its back to michael. Back to michael. Well, thank you sophia wenzler. The labour party sailed to victory in the by elections at kingswood and wellingborough this week , but they cannot win this week, but they cannot win the upcoming by election in rochdale because it has disowned the as our ally over the candidate as our ally over comments made about comments that he made about israel. Was ali lured into a israel. But was ali lured into a rhetorical bidding match over the fraught israel palestine conflict in order to win the support of rochdales large Muslim Population . And, if so , Muslim Population . And, if so, is that any different in character or effect for candidates to try to mollify such voters, compared with the way that mrs. Thatcher and i tried to use to win votes in the Jewish Community in our north london constituencies 25 years ago to discuss the growing influence of muslim british voters , im joined by raqeeb voters, im joined by raqeeb hassan, author of beyond grievance what the left gets wrong about identity politics, as well as by reem Ibrahim Ibrahim , Communications Director ibrahim, Communications Director at the institute of economic affairs, and denis macshane, who was the labour mp for rotherham and raqeeb. May i start with you . And that question ive asked, is there anything qualitatively different in candidates now trying to get the muslim vote from, you know what i was doing a quarter of a century ago, trying to get the jewish vote in north london . Well, i think that more generally, when looking at british politics, the british politics, i think the influence of identity politics is you are the is too strong. But you are the mp southgate. Um, uh mp for enfield southgate. Um, uh , Margaret Thatcher was mp for finchley and of course engaging with religious minorities in your constituency. Theres nothing wrong that. I think nothing wrong with that. I think its more is the nature of its more what is the nature of that engagement . But the reality is were becoming an increasingly Diverse Society in terms of ethnicity and religion. So the impact of foreign conflicts , geopolitical tensions conflicts, geopolitical tensions that may well have an impact on the content of our national and local politics. But i have to say, the by election in rochdale , i think the build up to it has been a crying shame and i dont think its a positive, a particularly positive representation of british democracy. Why has it been a crying shame . Well, i think that firstly you have labours issues with candidate, azhar with its former candidate, azhar ali. I think that while people naturally they are entitled to have strong preferences in regards to their Israeli Palestinian conflict, there are serious domestic problems in rochdale in terms of quality of pubuc rochdale in terms of quality of Public Services, which are more domestic in nature, and i think they should be, um, a greater focus when it comes to those campaigns up there. Campaigns up there. But let me go back to my bafic but let me go back to my basic question. So 25 years ago, i became very concerned with soviet jewry issues, a jewish people trying get out of the people trying to get out of the soviet union. Obviously tended soviet union. I obviously tended to rather than to support israel rather than the palestine cause because, you know , pushed in that direction know, pushed in that direction by my constituents. I just want to know if people in the rochdale by election are tending to say that theyre looking for a ceasefire, or if they were tending to say that , you know, tending to say that, you know, that theyre unhappy with what israel is doing in gaza , is that israel is doing in gaza, is that any different . Is it is it any worse . Is it sinister in a way that it wasnt when i was appealing to my Jewish Voters . Think that people are well, i think that people are absolutely entitled for absolutely entitled to, for example , criticise the israeli example, criticise the israeli governments policies in terms of occupation governments policies in terms of population occupation governments policies in terms of population displacement of and population displacement of the Palestinian People. Why dont agree with is the peddling of conspiracy theories, um, which in my view can very much end to anti semitic territory. I think you could be deeply critical of the current israeli government, which contains some very , um, how you say very, um, how do you say unsavoury characters, including benjamin , itamar benjamin netanyahu, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich . You can do that without indulging in those conspiracy theories of a decidedly anti anti jewish nature. And lets recall that the labour candidate has been disowned for comments that went beyond the pale in the view of his own party. Um, reem, what do you think . Do you mind addressing the same issue . Is anything happening with the muslim vote that happened muslim vote that hasnt happened with before . Muslim vote that hasnt happened witiwell, before . Muslim vote that hasnt happened witiwell, mean, efore . Muslim vote that hasnt happened witiwell, mean, were . Muslim vote that hasnt happened witiwell, mean, were looking well, i mean, were looking at with tony and at history with tony blair and iraq, and actually saw the iraq, and we actually saw the muslim vote decline as a result of i think it halved after 2004. I think whats interesting about this particular issue is that israel palestine to be the israel palestine seems to be the most pertinent political issue for muslim it does feel for muslim voters. It does feel as though the labour party have sort of , um, as though the labour party have sort of, um, kind of underestimated the value of those voters in itself. I agree, those voters in itself. I agree, i think theres nothing wrong with engaging with religious communities directly. I think its actually very positive its actually a very positive thing. Does show that thing. It really does show that the importance of community in itself. But the labour party itself. But the labour party clearly have understood the value of the muslim vote to the party then therefore party itself, and then therefore theyve now also tried to retro effectively, uh, kind of combat the anti semitism problem. They have had in the labour party. All of the accusations , um, all of the accusations, um, dunng all of the accusations, um, during Jeremy Corbyns time as leader of the labour party as well as during his his time there with all of those accusations. So theyve. Keir starmer clearly tried to do it the other way and of the other way and kind of overcompensated whilst also meaning kind of meaning that he has kind of disenfranchised those disenfranchised many of those muslim labour voters. Disenfranchised many of those mu but labour voters. Disenfranchised many of those mu but lets ur voters. Disenfranchised many of those mu but lets thinkers. Disenfranchised many of those mu but lets think about some but lets think about some ways in which it might be qualitatively different now. For example , some people say that, example, some people say that, you know, islam basically doesnt get on with democracy. So is there is there a threat to democracy . Some people do not like what is written. I suppose , like what is written. I suppose, in the quran, or what is part of the belief about homosexuality . And many people are very unhappy about women being asked to dress in certain ways or at least dressing in certain ways. So im saying if candidates , if parties saying if candidates, if parties begin to move on these issues, is that qualitatively different . Is that any kind of threat to democracy or to our Cultural Values . Well, i mean, lets first of all, be clear about the differences between the quran and the bible itself. I mean, comments about homosexuality are relatively the same in both religious texts. I also think, religious texts. I also think, look, there are going to be many muslims out there that have particularly undemocratic views. There are many christians that also have that same view. And indeed many jews and many other religious minorities as well. It doesnt mean you really think that. Absolutely. That. Absolutely, absolutely. And i think that when it and i do think that when it comes to im just going to touch on this point very quickly when it comes to female modesty, the majority time it up to majority of the time it is up to the woman. And it is it is their choice. And thats it should choice. And thats how it should be it should never be be in islam. It should never be forced on them. Its forced on them. And its actually not allowed actually haram. Its not allowed for to be forced to wear for a woman to be forced to wear anything, indeed forced to be anything, or indeed forced to be married or or forced to do anything against their own wishes, the wishes, but just touching on the point in which point about the way in which this impacted the labour this has impacted the labour party do think there party itself. I do think there seems particular seems to be a particular polarisation and what this does mean you get many, many mean is that you get many, many people are incredibly moved people who are incredibly moved by israel palestine issue by by the israel palestine issue and unable to sort and actually are unable to sort of any kind of nuance. Of decipher any kind of nuance. When say youre when you say youre pro palestine, does that when you say youre pro pwhen1e, does that when you say youre pro pwhen1e, say does that when you say youre pro pwhen 1e, say youre hat mean when you say youre pro israel . What does that actually mean . Are are you actually mean . Are you are you pro hamas . Are you sympathising with terrorist organisation with the terrorist organisation or you actually that or are you actually saying that the Palestinian People i care about the humanitarian crisis. So think we need to have so i do think we need to have some nuance here. Clearly, the labour party have tried to over overcompensate of overcompensate against all of those anti semitism accusations dunng those anti semitism accusations during the corbyn era and have actually then alienated many muslim voters whilst doing so. Muslim voters whilst doing so. Um, denis macshane, do you mind talking to us about your experience as a member of parliament . I mean, id really like to ask you, frankly, did you ever feel you were being asked strike positions about asked to strike positions about which uncomfortable, which you felt uncomfortable, but might but which nonetheless you might be because thered be tempted into because thered be tempted into because thered be no be votes involved . No two simple stories, and its good you and i both have the experience, so much of experience, because so much of what from people whove what i hear from people whove never door never knocked on the door or so