Transcript of Watch live: ☀️ Sky News Breakfast | Sunday 15 December 2024

July, reform came second in 98 seats in the general election. 89 of those are Labor won seats. So whilst, yes, they're taking conservative votes, there's lots of evidence to suggest that reform is now a very big threat to Labor seats. And those in reform believe that they've got the wind in their sails. They're targeting, labor in the Welsh elections in the senate, coming up, next year.

And, also, there is a lot of talk about potential big amounts of money coming in, not least from the tech billionaire and Trump ally, Elon Musk. Richard Tyson, that interview with my colleague Serena, said that they'd be delighted to accept money from Elon Musk. You've got Nick Candy, the party's new treasurer, a very rich man, in his own right, saying that he wants to go over to the US to meet with Elon Musk in the coming weeks. That's in the Sunday Times this morning. So there is a specific threat to labor from reform, and the way that they try to neuter that is by getting on top of this illegal migration policy.

Okay. For now, Rob, thank you so much. Just a quick reminder on today's Sunday morning with Trevor Phillips, he'll be joined by border security minister Angela Eagle, shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, and author and journalist, Anne Applebaum. That's right here on Sky News from half past 8. Well, let's talk to independent migration researcher now, Zoe Gardiner.

Great to have you with us. What do you make of Labour's approach? Good morning.

Good morning. I think that it's quite clear Labor is making the exact same mistake that the Conservatives did before them. By ramping up the hostility and the rhetoric against immigration, by failing completely to make the case for the fact that we desperately need people in this country and can and should help people who are in desperate situations, all Labour's doing is funneling their vote to reform just like the Tories did before them.

Yeah. So how much do you think this is a reaction to a a political cost rather than a, I suppose, a human cost?

It's absolutely a political calculation. It's unfortunately, you know, according to all the evidence that we have available from us about how to confront the far right and how to confront anti migrant, hateful xenophobic messaging. This is the exact wrong way to go about it. But everybody can tell that it's a political move, can't we? If you really want to punish migrants, whatever the cost to our country, then you know who you're voting for, and it isn't Labor, is it?

How comfortable do you feel then with Yvette Cooper in Rome?

Not comfortable at all. Italy's has a extremely hard right, traditionalist, government that is the successor to the fascist movement in that country. Their anti migrant policies have been a disastrous failure. I think it's very interesting how a few months ago, all over our media, we were talking about, Maloney's Albania plan and whether this was maybe the solution, and maybe it meant that we should have stuck to our Rwanda plan, which was something equally horrible, but definitely different. And, turns out that Maloney's Albania plan has, in fact, 1 thing in common with the Rwanda plan and that it has faced repeated challenges in the courts, and it has not got off the ground.

And all it's ended up being is an extremely expensive, operation of ferrying migrants here and then back again to there. And it hasn't done any good and it hasn't helped any single person in Italy pay their bills this winter, and nor have any of Yvette Cooper's proudly stated deportations today helped any person in England pay their bills this winter. Our country needs a government that prioritizes our actual needs. And if this government fails to provide the basic public services, and public infrastructure projects that the country so badly needs, then, yes, we will turn to the far right. We won't turn back to Labor just because they said they'd give migrants a bit of a kicking.

Just zooming in, Zoe, briefly on some of the the lines from this new home office release and Yvette Cooper's plans. She's saying new measure measures will deliver on border security and she calls them 1 of the foundations that underpin the government's mission, for a plan for change. So to tackle the gangs, the people that bring pay for people to come over on small boats. So your thoughts on on some of the the measures that she's releasing today. She wants to control this situation so it's better for the future.

Doesn't that sound familiar? Are we ever going to have a break from this cycle of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?

I mean, the previous government also made themselves all about controlling the border. If we try to zoom out for

a bit and think realistically, 5 years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, will the UK no longer be a destination where desperate people escaping from danger seek protection? Of course, it will. Of course, it will. The we're 1 of the richest, safest, most stable countries in the world that can offer the best opportunities for people to rebuild their lives. We've all seen over the last weeks the true scale, the reality of the horror of the Assad regime that so many Syrians have fled.

People need to escape that kind of thing. They just do. And the UK just does need to be part of the solution. And this pathetic political pantomime about toughening our borders has never got us anywhere. It has always cost us huge amounts of money, huge amounts of suffering to the people involved.

And as I say, it's never ever helped 1 British person heat our homes, get a doctor's appointment, or access the services that we so badly need.

Okay. We'll leave it there. Zoe Gardner, great to get your take on this this morning. Also today, 5 people have died in shooting incidents in Northern France. 1 of which was at a migrant camp.

Just a warning, the footage that you'll see shortly, it is the aftermath of 1 of the shootings, including dead bodies too. 2 of the victims were migrants, and they were killed at the Loomclodge camp near Dunkirk, and 2 further victims are understood to have been security personnel. Now the 2 migrants were Kurds who'd attempted to cross the Channel yesterday and were rescued by French authorities. A 22 year old man, understood to be a French national, handed himself in at a nearby police station and admitted carrying out another fatal shooting would be live in France at the end of our program, with the latest from our Europe correspondent Adam Parsons. Elsewhere, the UK has today become the 12th member of a a trade pack involving, Japan, Australia, and Canada in the biggest trade deal post Brexit.

Now the government says joining the comprehensive and progressive agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership will be worth more than £2,000,000,000 a year. The billionaire founder of British fashion chain, Mango not British rather, it's Spanish isn't it, chain Mango Isaac Andig died yesterday in a hiking accident. Clothing brand in 1984. An actor, Jamie Foxx, is recovering from stitches after being hit by glass at a Beverly Hills restaurant. Mister Foxx's representative

said

the glass was thrown by someone at another table. Police called to the scene on Friday night. Well, they described the incident as a physical altercation between passes. Now a person is in a critical condition after a double decker hit a railway bridge. This was in Glasgow just last night.

Shamann Freeman Powell has all the details. So so what happened? It must have been terrifying for anyone on that upper deck.

Absolutely. Well, we know that emergency services were called around 6 PM yesterday evening responding to reports of this incident that a double decker bus had hit a railway bridge. Now we can see from the images, showing now that the roof of the bus was totally ripped off, as you say. Must have been terrifying for anyone on that break on that bus, but especially for anyone on the upper deck. And what we know, so far is that the route it was the 4 a bus, and the route runs between Broomhill and Eaglesham.

Now on this street, Cook Street, where the bridge is, is, it's a 1 way road, and it's located shortly after a turn. And it's clearly marked on this bridge that vehicles under 3.8 meters or 12 and a half feet shouldn't be driving down that road. As of last night, there were a number of roads that were closed. Police were advising motorists to avoid the area completely. Scott Rail also announced that a number of its lines were closed due to the crash as well and had put on replacement busses.

We do have a statement from First Bus, which is the company operating that 4 a. The statement says that it's launched an immediate investigation, and they're also assisting Police Scotland with their inquiries, adding that their thoughts with everyone affected by this incident.

Alright. Shamal, thank you for bringing us up to date on that story there in Glasgow. Next, the alleged Chinese spy who became a close confidant of Prince Andrew has also met 2 prime ministers. This is according to photos seen by Sky News. Now the businessman has been in pictures alongside David Cameron and Theresa May.

And whilst there's no suggestion either of them were aware of his reported links to the Chinese state, it does raise questions over his access to high profile people in the UK. Thomas More reports.

The alleged Chinese spy found his way to the heart of the British establishment, meeting not just 1, but 2 former prime ministers according to photographic evidence seen by Sky News. When exactly the businessman who can't be identified for legal reasons posed with David Cameron and Theresa May is unclear. Sources close to lord Cameron said he met thousands of people at hundreds of events during his time as Tory leader. A spokesperson for Baroness May said she had no recollection of any meeting. But the businessman's ties to prince Andrew were already under close scrutiny, invited to his birthday party and royal residences, but now banned from the UK or national security grounds.

This is what China does, and it's very good at it indeed. Gray zone warfare, all part of a bigger geopolitical game of power, if you like, with the west, including Britain. It seeks opportunities. It seeks vulnerabilities in our society to gain privileged access at the very, very highest levels, including the royal family.

Court documents refer to the alleged spy as age 6. He's aged 50, and until the COVID pandemic spent 1 or 2 weeks a month in the UK. Security services believed he had links with the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Chinese state, and the documents say his relationship with the Duke of York had a covert and clandestine element. Although prince Andrew wouldn't have access to state secrets, his past role as a prominent royal and trade envoy meant he would have been well connected to politicians, diplomats, business executives, and military figures.

Our security and intelligence agencies are continually vigilant for any threat to UK national security, whether that be around foreign influence, whether it be around espionage, whether it be around any security threat. And so, of course, we won't hesitate to take action.

The national security risk posed by h 6 wasn't known at the time that he was invited to functions at the royal residences. Prince Andrew's office said that he ceased all contact with the businessman as soon as he received government advice. But questions are now being asked about the prince's business dealings, particularly now he has no royal allowance to pay for his home on the Windsor Estate. And this biographer told Sky News he's not getting any answers.

This stuff has vanished. The foreign office claim not to know anything about it. The Department of Business and Trade know nothing. I've put in, I think, probably over a 100 requests now, And I'm still really not much further forward, in terms of I asked for specific trips that he made on specific times. I asked for general papers about particular departments.

Each time, it's either too wide and therefore there's a cons cost compliance element or it's too narrow and they'd have no information. And so we're playing with semantics the whole time. It's like playing whack a mole.

The Chinese embassy dismissed the espionage claim as a baseless spy story, and the government said information relating to the duke had been withheld in accordance with all legal requirements. Buckingham Palace declined to comment, saying he's no longer a working royal, But this now goes far beyond prince Andrew. If the man accused of spying for China can meet former prime ministers, who else has he had access to? Thomas More, Sky News.

A man convicted of taking part in the January 6th capital riots has told Sky News he expects Donald Trump to set him free. President-elect Trump says he'll pardon many of the individuals involved on his first day. Our US correspondent James Matthews reports.

They'll forever tell the story of January 6th and the assault on the capital.

DC is not my country. It's not my town. It's not

In this place, they'll forever tell their version.

We have several rooms set up for jam sixers. As you can tell, he's 30. We did get some of the stuff off the street.

Nicole Reffitt, hosts January 6 Families Passing Through.

Some of us build walls, but you tear them down. You're awesome. Guy,

say what's up to your wife.

What's up? Why are you stuck? On the way.

She's the wife of Guy Reffert.

Oh, I wish you was here, baby, because you're my political. You're my Abigail Adams.

He's the first man convicted then jailed for January 6 crimes. The father of 3 had an automatic rifle in his car and took a handgun to the Capitol. But for some That's a scenario. Uh-huh. Seeing isn't believing.

Does that look like a gun

to you?

Well, it looks like a holster to me.

Do you

not see the hard metal was showing off the metal?

That's actually on the inside of the holster.

That was a riot. Nicole, people died in that.

Yeah. Ashley Babbit died. Benjamin Greeson died. Roseanne Boylan died. Kevin Greesen died.

Nobody nobody would have died if I cried.

I hadn't descended on the camera.

Well, you know what? But your

your husband's at the center of it.

He never took down a barricade ever.

With a rifle in his car and a protective vest on.

You know, you can say, you know, you being from Britain and everything, y'all have a very finicky way with guns. You know, in East Texas, we carry them in the back of our car.

People like Nicole have Donald Trump on their side. For January 6 prisoners, he uses the term hostages and has long promised a presidential pardon.

Happy birthday, dear

John. Outside their Washington jail, supporters hold a nightly vigil, communicating with prisoners by phone. Hello there. It's James Matthews from Sky News in the UK here. I asked them about a Trump pardon and about the 10 year 1 from the current president Joe Biden to his son Hunter.

He's so exonerated up the barn. I really do believe that will happen. You know, Joe Biden I don't have a problem that he pardoned his son, but I have a problem with if he lied and said he wasn't.

Thomas Ballard, Hero. Logan Barnhart.

Hero.

Richard Barnett.

Hero.

Joshua Atwood. Hero.

When you

look at someone being pardoned for 10 years, a decade of any criminal activity they might have taken place,

yeah.

I think it shines very brightly on Jan Sixers where many of them have no criminal record ever.

The night's vigil ends with the singing of the anthem and prisoners turning their cell lights off and on. How their story ends will be written by their choice of president, who may well choose the power of the pardon. Still there. Here, it's where politics and justice collide. James Matthews, Sky News in Washington.

US secretary of state Anthony Blinken says Washington has had direct contact with the Syrian rebel group that ousted Bashar al Assad. It's been a week since Assad's brutal regime was toppled. And in the aftermath, Russia has pulled its forces back from the front lines in northern Syria, but says it's not leaving its 2 main military bases. Well, 1 of those is the Homin Air Base in Syria's coastal Lactakia province. From there, our chief correspondent, Stuart Ramsey, reports and has seen evidence of Russian troops pulling back their military hardware.

A Russian helicopter gunship circles above its base near Latakia on the Mediterranean coast in Syria. Enormous transporter planes maneuver around the airstrip, preparing perhaps to fly equipment out of Syria. The Syrian checkpoint in front of the base is now deserted. Past the Russian flag, a picture of president Putin still hangs alone. The image of Bashar al Assad is conspicuously absent.

Beyond the gates, Russian soldiers stand guard. They're awaiting the arrival of another convoy. It trundles along the narrow roads towards the base. This has been going on for a few days now. The soldiers are pulling back their armored vehicles, troop carriers, and supply trucks from bases across Syria.

Some are marked with a zed, synonymous, of course, with the war in Ukraine. But this is a war that is now over. The drawdown is part of discussions about their future presence in the country that's taking place between Moscow and the new government here. The Russian forces have basically propped up the Assad regime since 2015, and, of course, that regime has now fallen. It's quite clear they're withdrawing from their bases, and they're coming back to this 1, which is a transport hub.

The entrance to the airport that shares the base is now guarded by HTS fighters as they wait for higher ups to issue orders.

The location of this airport is very important, and we've received orders to be here.

Have you been speaking to the Russians at all and or have you heard from them, or are you are you staying outside and they're inside?

As soldiers, we don't have any contact with them, but there might be coordination between them and the country's military council.

The villagers around the base have made a good living from the Russian soldiers. The shop names and chemists are written in Russian. Now rebel fighters are in town. The Russian military vehicles make their way along the Mediterranean coast past destroyed or abandoned Syrian army vehicles. HTS soldiers with low loaders are now collecting abandoned tanks.

They're rebuilding the new Syrian army. The changes taking place in Syria this week are quite something to see. We see a number of tanks that we've been driving past and military vehicles is remarkable. Soldiers are telling us that they're going to refurbish them, but they're not damaged. They've just got out of oil or batteries have run flat.

So these are have all just been abandoned. They literally has gone on for mile after mile. The regime is gone. Its main supporters are withdrawing from the countryside. It feels like a chapter in this Syrian saga is ending, but the story is far from over.

Stuart Ramsay Sky News, Latakia.

Still to come on the breakfast show, the rise of stalkerware. Sky News investigates the link between surveillance apps and domestic abuse. And we'll have a look at what's making news in the papers today with editor at large of The Mail on Sunday, Charlotte Griffiths, and political correspondent of Politics Joe, Avis Antina Evans.

We arrive. A secret hospital hidden in the Myanmar jungle, treating the victims of this bloody war. This is Myanmar today. Its military rulers don't want the world to see, but we have.

I fight for my own future. I fight for my generation future.

This is an actual crime.

They don't care for them.

Myanmar army is only a couple of kilometers away. So this is a major humanitarian disaster.

There are dozens of people desperately clambering to get onto that boat. It is a chaotic scene that is being watched by dozens of French police officers on the beach. I'm Adam Parsons, Sky's Europe correspondent based here in Brussels. It's not just homes, but whole streets like this 1 that have been reduced to rubble. Getting the chance to tell people's stories, it's a privilege.

Weeknights on Sky News.

This is your chance. Tell people. Welcome to the politics hub.

A police force has apologized.

If you

want to find out about Grimsby, you come to the docks.

I'm live in Jerusalem.

Are you not concerned that that could lead to all out war?

Hello there. Good evening.

There are fears of an upsurge in violence. What's at stake here?

You are watching the press preview, a first look at the front pages as they arrive.

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Turkey is burying its dead. Whole families died in this collapse, generations wiped out. I'm Siobhan Robbins, Sky's Europe correspondent based here in Berlin. This is just a small sample of the deadly arsenal taken off the streets. Anyone should say, I'll do that, and then have to go and shoot someone.

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Jubilation in the streets, while some, This is a political victory for prime minister Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. I'm Neville Lazarus, and I'm Sky's reporter based in Delhi. Companies like these are are helping Inde in its trajectory to be a serious player in space exploration. Sky News get the full story first.

A Sky News investigation has revealed that domestic abusers are increasingly using apps marketed as tools for parents to keep track of their children to spy on their partners. New research shared with Sky News shows a steep rise in the use of so called stalkerware hidden on victims' phones without their knowledge and often with devastating effects on their lives. And a warning, this report from an author of England correspondent, Charlotte Leaming, includes references to domestic abuse.

I seriously thought I'd been microchipped or something. Literally, I could not explain what was happening

to me and how it was happening to me.

And I never realized it could be my phone.

Melody has been haunted by her ex even months after their relationship ended. Somehow her ex kept turning up in places Melody hadn't told anyone she would be.

I got the bus from my house to the city center for an appointment. I got off the bus and I saw my ex standing right there, like, charging towards me. I was terrified. They disappeared into the crowd and I finally relaxed. But I was suspicious something was off, especially because my phone kept dying really quickly.

I took it straight to a phone repair shop.

At the shop, Melody said they quickly discovered a hidden app called mSpy that was feeding everything on Melody's phone back to her ex through online monitoring software. The mSpy app presents itself as the best phone tracker for parental control. But alongside the website stock images of smiling happy families are reviews and blog posts and pictures that point to its other use, surveilling your spouse without their knowledge. The app was identified as Stalkerware by several cybersecurity firms and warn, a tool that collects evidence of Stalkerware in domestic abuse. Sky News put these findings to mSpy but haven't received a response.

The pitch of this as a parental control app is really just to duck below the legal radar, really, so that they can say, hey. You know, this is intended for perfectly legitimate use. So I I think that's really just a mask that they're wearing.

A red flag for Stalkerware is that it hides on the target's phone. Researchers at UCL compared monitoring software you can get through app stores with apps downloaded straight from the Internet known as sideloading. 17 of 20 sideloaded apps were hidden behind icons that look like the settings logo or Wi Fi symbol. They're designed to blend in with your phone's regular settings, making it hard to know they are there.

As technology is moving so fast and we're not keeping up with that and we're not doing enough about both holding those companies accountable for not including safety and design, but also we're not keeping up in terms of our police response.

Advocates for domestic abuse survivors want better awareness of the scale of the issue and say tech companies must put safeguards in place to stop their products becoming tools of abuse. Charlotte Leming, Sky News.

James Green is back with all the sports. She's just giving us a bit of a teaser to what's coming up. And I know you're gonna talk about this, but what is going on with Wolves? It's all kind of falling apart, isn't it?

It's messy. Yeah. It is it's messy. It's uncomfortable to watch. It's it's definitely not entertainment.

It's gone down a different route. We've seen a lot of problems on the pitch with players not being able to control their emotions after games. We saw it last week after Wolves play West Ham and lost to West Ham, and their captain, Mario LaMena, got into an altercation with Jarrod Bowen. And then he got into altercation with some of the coaching staff, including 1 of the coaches Sean Derry. He was then stripped of the Wolves captaincy in the week by manager Gary O'Neil.

Fast forward to this weekend, another defeat this time to Ipswich at home. And there were horrible scenes afterwards involving Raya Aitnori, the defender, Matias Cunha, who's had a really good season. Both of them actually probably their 2 better players involved in altercations with Ipswich staff and players after the game as well. A couple of weeks before that, it was their goalkeeper, Josey Sar was having an altercation with a Wolves fan after

the game as well.

So this

is just a bad

look, isn't it? And if you've got a lot of kids in the stands watching this, it's not a good look.

Which there is. There's plenty of kids watching, and it and it's not great. And, look, you know, high pressure, high environment, sport can be can be tough to control your emotions, but that is also part of your job to control it, to use them in the right way. And to see it continually happen is a big issue, and it's an issue that Gary O'Neill's got to try and solve himself. He's under pressure himself, but he's he's got a really difficult job at Wolves.

It's a club that have sold a lot of their best players over recent years and not replaced them. They've been replacing players that they're selling for 20, 30, £40,000,000 with young players building for the future. Now that's great maybe for the future, but at the present, it's not really helping them. And they need those experienced faces in

Yeah. To commit the call.

Keep the call and and bring that professionalism in. And it's it's a real problem. The fans were protesting a lot against the chairman, Jeff Shee, and the owners, Fozan, as well after the game. Not necessarily directed at the manager, but the ownership of the club. But it feels like something's gotta break.

And often in these circumstances, it's the manager. But I don't know whether that might be the case here because he signed a fairly long term contract recently. So you think it's gonna cost the club who not necessarily got plenty of money. They keep saying that it will cost them quite a lot of money if they were to part ways with the manager, so I'm not sure if that's gonna happen. But something needs to change because it's unsavory.

It's not great, and it's not great for the fans, of the sport. But, we've got that to come, plus the best of the action from the Premier League in the sport. And as I was mentioning, the pressure is mounted. Here are some of the views after the game. You can see the scenes where the players lost their call once again after defeat at home to Ipswich.

And in cricket, England's hopes of a clean sweep in New Zealand are all but over after a poor display with about the 2nd day of the 3rd Test in Hamilton. And in boxing,

We've got your Sunday mornings covered. From the front page and the sounds of the streets to the voices of the people who make the major calls and big picture politics beyond Westminster. We'll put you at the heart of our story, and you start to Sunday. I'm ready. Are you?

Join me, Trevor Phillips, Sunday mornings on Sky News.

Welcome back everyone. James, you've got all the sport coming up, really busy in the Premier League yesterday. And Liverpool obviously leading Premier League, but they've Chelsea. They've got Arsenal on their heels, aren't they? But what what's your reflections on how they're doing so far?

Yeah. Look. They've had a remarkable start to the season under a new manager, Arnaud Slap, replacing Jurgen Klopp. Everyone expected it to be a bit of a transition phase, but Jurgen Klopp left Yeah. He was.

Was. They left the club, but he left the club in such great hands in terms of the squad depth, the players at their disposal. Everything's there for a winning mentality, and he's had a brilliant start to the season. Now yesterday, they had a really tough match against Fulham

Fulham. Yeah.

In the midst of fixture congestion, which is affecting a lot of clubs, especially those clubs playing in Europe. For Liverpool, red card in the, opening, I think, 15 minutes. But they managed to come back twice, and Diogo Jota was the hero. There he is celebrating back in the Liverpool squad in the Liverpool squad. He's been injured, but they're gonna need these players.

And I think throughout the Premier League at the moment, especially the clubs near the top who compete in Europe

Yes.

They need the whole squad. This is where Arsenal maybe are struggling a little bit more because they've got a slightly smaller squad than some of the top teams, but competing midweek, weekend, midweek, weekend all the time is quite hard to keep that level of performance up. This is where Chelsea have a massive advantage. Now Chelsea were in the news because they were signing so many players, and their owner, Ted Boehly, kind of came in with a strange idea of just pumping money, spending loads on these players, and they've got a massive squad. But what they're able to do is play a different team in mid week in European games to what they're doing apparently.

Fresh legs.

So the players are fresh. And Chelsea have got every chance of becoming champions. But I'll talk about that a little later. But coming up in a sport, 1 to watch for you, is possibly 1 of the best saves we've ever seen in Premier League history. You wait.

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I think it's a human quality that some people, destined with their own determination.

I think that the player compared to me, I think that they have much more responsibility.

I do think there's a responsibility within the

game to prepare the lads for

how hard it's gonna be.

I started my investigation into academy football by finding out how the game's top managers get the best out of the young players. But only 9% of our academy players will ever play a professional game. Coming up in this episode, we find out how the best become the best.

You don't just get it handed to you, you're aware.

There has to be a fall back.

Telus Academy, that's all I've known.

Mentally, I think I've always been quite strong.

In the history of the game, almost 1300 people have had the ultimate honor of wearing an England shirt. They climbed the mountain, made it to the very top. So what does that journey look like? The journey to become an elite footballer.

It's just what I love doing. It's the only thing that I loved growing up. There was no alternative for me.

You got

the big break at the age of 6? Yeah. It's an extraordinary story.

Oh, it's just like a half term camp that the academy was doing. They'd sent invites to a few schools in the community. And luckily, it was 1 of my schools was 1 of them. As you can imagine, every every hand in the class went up. So the only way to do it was to pick names out of a hat.

Luckily, my name got got pulled out.

What was it like being in the Liverpool academy?

You get elite coaching, elite advice, elite nutrition, and it prepares you for going and being a leader in in a senior game. I think it teaches you a lot off the pitch as well rather than on. I think it instills, you know, the discipline, the sacrifice, the hard work, everything that you need to go and achieve what you want. You don't just get it handed to you. You're at work and earn it every single day.

It's a level of competitiveness against some of your closest friends and the closest people that you that you have to kind of outwork them and be better than them because you need to fight for your next contract and make it to the next step. I necessarily think that that's a really good thing because, you know, whether you do or don't make it, you're prepared for life itself because you know what it takes. And you know that even to have the smallest chance, which is what we all have, the tiniest little chance to ever make it, you have to fight day in, day out. You got more chance to win the lottery than making it as a professional footballer.

What was the pressure like for you making that step up so young from the academy football to the first team?

There's nothing like it. The best under 20 ones game you can ever play in won't ever come close to a a first team training session. I was scared of making mistakes in simple passing drills, so that kind of the pressure kind of rolled into added concentration in those So

it motivated you and sharped you all?

Yeah. It

was it was like, okay. I'm passing to to Jordan Henderson, the captain. Yeah. I've gotta make sure this is a a precise pass. There's no bubble on it.

Because the last thing I wanna do is give him a bad ball. And the same goes for every single player. I was like, the respect I had for them was, okay. I need to be at your level. In the academy, you see players going through the 1st team once or twice, and then they're back down.

That was probably the biggest fear I had. And I always thought to myself, once I'm in and around the first team, I never wanna go back. You wanna be at a level where you represent yourself in the in the right light. You represent the academy and show that the the level of player that can come from the academy. But you're also trying to leave an impression.

I didn't wanna just kind of go there and play it safe. Yeah. I didn't wanna play it safe. That's not my game. That's not my styles.

You must have been very aware that while you were forging ahead and having an incredible time riding the wave, Some of your mates that you'd spent a lot of time with, presumably, from quite a young age were not.

The truth of the academy system is you I learned that from the age of 6. These things happen. You get your first contract when you are 89. So for the 1st 2 years, you kind of just battening out to try and stay as as relevant as possible. And then from that point on, it's year on year, you're fighting for a for a contract, and you're seeing 2, 3, 4, 5 lads get released, and others come in.

And then you gotta fight for your position, and it happens year after year, so it's something that you grow knowing the reality of. It's not something that just happens at the age of 17, 18.

Now, actually, about the After Academy, why did you wanna do it, and how did this relationship with the PFA come about?

It's for the lads that I grew up playing with. They realized the dream's no longer gonna happen for them. They had nowhere to turn to. Didn't know what to do. Didn't know how to go go about anything.

Made me realize that there's there's a problem with the system and the support that comes after when you drop out of an academy. And obviously the PFA do amazing work in that space as well, but as much work as possible that goes on, it's beneficial for everyone. So you you know, to to work with them and all the amazing support that they've given me and the ambitions that we've got to for the future of of it is really promising too. What's the ethos? To give opportunities, not just within football, but outside the the the world of football, in the real world.

In a world where a levels and degrees, deemed vitally important to get a job, it's very hard for us lads to to make it in that kind of world. And I think there's so much ask and demand from academies. And rightly so, you you need to put in the the time, the effort, and the work.

This Sky News Sports Bulletin is brought to you by Vitality.

Still to come on The Breakfast Show, we'll be discussing the stories making news today, with editor at large of the Sunday Mail, Charlotte Griffith, and political correspondent at Politics Joe, Avert Centina Evans, join us after the break.

We arrive. A secret hospital hidden in the Myanmar jungle. Treating the victims of this bloody war. This is Myanmar today. It's military rulers that don't want the world to see, but we have.

I fight for my own future. I fight for my generation future.

This is an actual crime.

They don't care for them.

Myanmar army is only a couple of kilometers away. So this is a major humanitarian disaster.

There are dozens of people desperately clambering to get onto that boat. It is a chaotic scene, but it's being watched by dozens of French police officers on the beach. I'm Adam Parsons, Sky's Europe correspondent based here in Brussels. It's not just homes, but whole streets like this 1 that have been reduced to rubble. Getting the chance to tell people stories, it's a privilege.

Weeknights on Sky News.

This is your chance. Tell people. Welcome to the politics hub.

A police force has apologized.

If you

want to find out about Groomsby, you come to the docks.

I'm live in Jerusalem.

Are you not concerned that that could lead to all out war?

Hello there. Good evening. There are fears

of an upsurge in violence. What's at stake here?

You are watching the press preview, a first look at the front pages as they arrive.

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Turkey is burying its dead. Whole families died in this collapse, generations wiped out. I'm Siobhan Robbins, Sky's Europe correspondent based here in Berlin. This is just a small sample of the deadly arsenal taken off the streets. Anyone should say, I'll do that and then have to go and shoot someone.

Yes. Sky News. Get the full story first.

Play Sky News.

From the Sky News Center at 7.

Now that you're up to date, we can go into a bit more detail.

Things can change incredibly quickly. Taken by surprise.

Have you ever known a moment like this in British politics before? Yes. Cheers.

We'll start with breaking news.

Let's get the latest on the ground.

So by the end, we'll hopefully all understand what's going on in the world just that little bit better.

Hello. Welcome back. Let's kick off our news review now. We're joined by editor at large of The Mail on Sunday Charlotte Griffiths and political correspondent at Politics Jo, Eva Santina Evans. Great to have you with us as always.

Let's kick off with The Times, Eva. And it's quite a shocking story, the numbers involved here, vulnerable children in settings that they just shouldn't be in.

Yeah. There seems to be around 700 children who are in quote unquote illegal homes. And what that means is when they're being moved about, they're being put into temporary accommodation, and that might be an Airbnb or it might not be a registered home. And it's costing the taxpayer around half a £1,000,000,000 a year, which is a shocking amount of money, especially considering it's 775 children. I mean, there's 1 case at The Times, sites here where it's a a teenager who was in a caravan for just 2 months, and it cost the taxpayer £76,000.

Now in that scenario, that's not good for the teenager.

But it's

also who on earth is this private landlord who is charging the council £76,000 for 2 months for a caravan.

Yeah.

I mean, even in the height of, you know, 1 of our, you know, the UK's beach locations, during the height of summer, you wouldn't pay that much.

Yeah. Dame Rachel D'Souza. So she's the commissioner of children of of England. She's calling it a a national scandal.

They need to address it really quickly, especially in the wake of Shahar Sharif, because there's 1 example they cite about a a toddler who spent time in an unregistered children's home in between foster placements, and you wonder how these children can fall through the cracks. I mean, these are gaping wide cracks here.

Okay. Let's move on then, to the mail. This is page 13. Not the kind of Holmes. Charlotte.

And it's it's very different but it's involving, Angela Rayner.

Yes. Angela Rayner has been given a very smart new flat in Admiralty House and she rents a flat in Westminster.

She wouldn't

have to do that anymore

because she's been given

a flat. And it's kind of fair enough, but what I found very interesting about Glenn Owen's piece in The Mail on Sunday was that they'd hoped to quietly move her in over Christmas. Basically implying that hopefully nobody would notice because they must realize the optics aren't great in the wake of the fact she's building all these new homes on the green belt, and here she is moving into this very, very grand apartment. Having said that, she hasn't been given 1 in Dorniewood or Chevening, which apparently this makes up for. Okay.

And it's quite funny because it's, it's where Prescott had 1 of his affairs with Tracey Temple.

Scandal on a Sunday.

And Churchill lived there as well.

Also, there's history in there.

Prescribe Prescott though, actually. And Irena, that's that's her spirit politician. Yes. John Prescott. Yeah.

Ava talk me through this story in The Express page 8. Labor National Insurance Tax Hike Will Hurt Hospices.

Yes. This is a warning. Yeah. This is a Tory MP, Stuart Andrew, who used to be a fundraiser for, a hospice before he became an MP in 2010, and he's warning that this national insurance hike will cost, hospices up to £140,000 extra, in, well well well, in national insurance payments. And he's saying that it's not feasible.

And as someone who did fundraising, he can tell you that it's simply not that's, you know, it's not simple to raise those funds. But, you know, this is sort of in a long line of, different campaigns that have been launched by various MPs since the National Insurance Tax Hike was long was announced. You know, several sectors like GPs, any kind of health care facility. There are campaigners pushing for Labor to to reverse their policies that it doesn't include those areas, but I don't think they're going to budge.

Yeah. Hospice is under real pressure and real strain for resources and staff too.

I know. And it's children's hospices as well that's cited in this piece. They're gonna have to be exempt, I think. And it does say here, you know, maybe the government should consider a voluntary exemption for clearly, you know, people who desperately need their money.

Okay. Talk me through, Charlotte, please. Our next story, it's in the Daily Mail. Their headline, Eton cuts back free places amid Labour's VAT rate.

A very different kind of VAT story because this is, taking bursary places away from children at Eton. And what it is is that they're about nearly a1000000 out of budget this year. So he's going to save some money, the provost of Eton, he's called Nicholas Kolodziej. He's actually, by all accounts, a really nice man, but he's not acting, I don't think, in this case in a very nice way because he's cutting the bursaries for children when he could have cut in any other way. There's 553,000,000 in the endowment fund, and he's decided to cut a third of bursary places.

So I just think the optics are pretty bad. He could have thought about it, but he is blaming the National Insurance, £1,000,000 bill he's going to get for the National Insurance at Eton.

Okay. Final story, Ava goes to you and Adele. What what's happening there?

Well, so fans who couldn't get tickets to her residency in Munich, she was there for I think nearly a year in this sort of custom built stadium. They're now going to get a documentary, so you'll be able to watch it at home. It's very similar to the Taylor Swift documentary that came out last year of her eras tour.

Okay.

Fine. Celine Dion, those scenes were quite remarkable when she turned up to Adele's concert. Quite like that. Thank you so much for your time today. We'll be back after a very short break.

The most significant day of this conflict They keep telling

us that they won.

This is what's left

of it.

Why only in America? People want their country to work.

Just want a job in a normal life.

Why are these homes

in I want you

to be honest with people.

That has happened within minutes. Sky News,

the full story first. Free wherever you get your news.

Hello. Good morning, everyone. It's 8 o'clock on today's program. Illegal channel crossings continue to climb, but Labor says its migration plan is on track.

And after Liverpool and Arsenal drop points, is the door slightly open for Manchester City in a Premier League title race? They fay man face Manchester United this afternoon.

It's Sunday, 15th December, coming your way. The home secretary says they've removed more migrants in the last 6 months than the tourists did in any similar period since 2018. Also this morning, 5 people are killed in a shooting at a Dunkirk migrant camp. The gunman's motives, well, that remains unclear so far as he hands himself in to police. A person is in a critical condition after a double decker bus hits a railway bridge in Glasgow.

Will Donald Trump pardon the January 6th capital rioters? They tell us from their jail cells. They're sure of it.

And in cricket, England's hopes of a 3 nil clean sweep of New Zealand look all but over after a dismal display with the bat in the final test in Hamilton.

Good morning, everyone. Well, the government says it's removed more migrants since coming to power 6 months ago than the Tories did in any similar period since 2018. The Home Office announced today that around 13,460 had been removed since Sir Keir Starmer's landslide victory in July. However, the number of people making illegal channel crossing, well, that continues to rise nearing 35,000 this year. Serena Bakhasingh reports.

The home secretary is

The home secretary is speaking

at a

political festival in Italy. The focus, immigration, and a chance for the government to broker immigration deals across Europe.

We need to restore order and control both to our border security and also to the asylum system. That's why I'm initially talking to the interior minister about stronger cooperation against the criminal smuggler gangs, but why we're also announcing the much stronger enforcement that we've been taking in the UK.

Enforcement against this. Under the conservatives, Dover became the poster seat for the immigration debate. And last week, it recorded the highest number of people arriving here on a single day in December. The government say they've removed nearly 13,500 people from the UK since the general election and are on track to deliver the highest number of returns for 5 years. Over 2,000 foreign criminals were also removed since July, an increase of 20% compared to last year.

They've also announced £8,000,000 for new technology and £5,000,000 for body worn cameras to help them capture evidence like this, illegal working raids. But the conservatives say it's just a continuation of their work.

These aren't good returns because they're not returning the people who arrive in the country illegally. These people that were caught on, well, illegal working rates, which is what we brought in my ad when we were in office. We brought that forward. We brought in brought forward the Albania deal. That means that people could be sent back to Albania when they've come from Iran from Albania.

This is just carrying on what we were doing.

Do you

think you're now influencing how other political parties are speaking about this issue?

I think they are beginning to realize that given the increase in our poll rating to the mid twenties, and we're now sometimes polling ahead of the Tories, sometimes ahead of Labor, if they're not listening and if they're not looking at why we're having success, then frankly, they are being rather tenir.

Do you

think this is becoming more of a political football and actually just a way to get votes?

Both are true. Without question, voters of all political parties, I think, are furious.

We want it to be a positive relationship from outside the EU. We can be partners and work together. That is what we should be doing. The

shared objectives with right wing political parties at home and abroad may not only be an unlikely outcome for Labor, but uncomfortable for some within the left wing camp as well. Serena Bhakasingh, Sky News.

Okay. Let's talk to Rob Powell in Westminster now. Rob, will these removals, will they satisfy Labour's critics? And also, how important is it for Labor to get on top of this? Morning.

Morning, Leah. No. I don't think, the increasing number of removals is enough because the key metric here really is the same as it was for the previous conservative government. It's about whether they can do anything that will stop the number of boat crossings coming across the channel. The difficulty that Labor have, and this is sort of where the the political messaging comes in, is that it's going to take some time for that to happen if it's going to happen at all because their approach is more technical.

It's about working behind the scenes to take away some of the structures that are, pushing these quite large flows of people, in terms of the smuggling rings, in terms of the illegality in that respect. So until that number starts to come down, they are engaged in, I think, a campaign of pushing out a message to talk about what they are doing, be it the home secretary going to Italy to meet with counterparts there, be it the arrests of smugglers, or be it removal, numbers going up. So it's to tell the public basically that they are on this, that they're not sitting on their hands. The key number to watch though is, of course, the number connected to small boat crossings and illegal migration. How important is it?

Well, it's very important. Labor will struggle to build consent for legal regular migration, which is needed by the country if it can't be seen to be getting on top of illegal migration. There is the cost attached to illegal migration around things like, hotel bills, and then there's the political cost as well. The risk of looking like they failed in a key target and a key aim and the specific risk posed by the reform party as well who are targeting, migration as a key policy battleground. And remember, while reform came second in about 98 seats in 2,024 in the election earlier this year, a vast majority of them, 89 of them were seats that Labor won.

So they pose a political and electoral threat to Labor, and that is probably why you are seeing the government take this so seriously. But, ultimately, they will be judged by that number when it comes to a legal migration, whether they can, as the conservatives put it before, stop the vote.

Okay, Rob. Thank you. And just a quick mention, today's Sunday morning with Trevor Phillips. He'll be joined by Border Security Minister Angela Eagle and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Phil, and author and journalist Anne Applebaum. That's, here on Sky News in just about 25 minutes or so.

Also today, 5 people have died in a shooting in northern France, 1 of which was at a migrant camp. Just a warning, the following footage shows the aftermath of 1 of the shootings, including dead bodies. Now 2 of the victims were migrants killed at the Lune Plage Camp near Dunkirk and 2 other victims are understood to have been security personnel. Let's go live now to our Europe correspondent, Adam Parsons, who joins us from Dunkirk. Morning to you, Adam.

What are the details that are emerging that we can tell viewers?

Well, it was, an extraordinary series of attacks that happened yesterday afternoon. The first of them, as you said, in a town, probably a relatively short drive from where I'm standing at the moment in L'unplage there, a 29 year old business owner was shot, apparently, in front of that person's family in in a relatively remote location. And the gunman, who we understand is a 22 year old Frenchman, drove here to exactly where I am at the moment in L'unplage. There is a migrant camp just, down this road. But just where beyond where I'm standing is the point where he shot 2, 2 migrants who we now know were called, Hamid and Hadi.

They were Kurdish migrants, 25 years

old.

And if you're looking at scrubland just down there, that is the point where they were both standing when they were hit with, bullets and both died, in that, that grassy era that you can still see in that grass. The blankets that were used, to put over, their bodies, after they were shot. Now we know all this because Sky News has spoken to a mine called Mattin, who was another Kurdish, migrant and is part of that group and told us that the story that they had tried that day to reach Britain on a overloaded dinghy that had set off with 85 people, a group of 4, the the 2 victims plus 2 other Kurdish migrants, part of that group of 85, 50 of those people were taken off. The for other 35 then persevered for 8 hours on the dinghy before it sank just before getting into British waters. They were rescued by French authorities.

He said he had faced death once already that day, and then they came back heading towards this camp. They saw this green vehicle stop, saw the man get out, fire, with a gun, thought he was gonna fire into the air, and then he turned the gun and started firing, this man, Martin, told us he thought 15 times towards this group, killing, these, these 2 men. He then carried on along this road, and came across 2 security agents who we believe, we don't know this for sure, maybe security personnel at the nearby port, shot and killed them, and then went on to hand himself into the police. We don't have any idea what, his motive was. That no indications from the police at the moment.

He is in custody. It is understood he is from this area and had more weapons, in his car.

Adam, thank you. Adam Parsons there in Dunkirk with the latest. A person is in a critical condition after a double decker bus hits a railway bridge in Glasgow last night. Here with the details, it's Shamone Freeman Powell. This must have been quite terrifying for anyone on that top deck.

Yeah. Well, for anyone on the bus actually, traveling on that route, we know that emergency services were called to the area around 6 PM yesterday evening responding to reports that a bus had hit this railway bridge and was wedged in between the bridge. We can look at some of the images now, which shows that the roof of the bus was completely torn off after this collision. We've also seen some eyewitness reports, some suggesting that there was at least 1 person covered in blood. We know, confirmed by the police that 1 person was taken to hospital, in a critical condition.

8 others believed to be injured. 5 of them taken to hospital via an ambulance. We've also seen some eyewitness reports yet to be verified by Sky News, which suggests that the driver, may have missed a turn. This, bridge is located on a 1 way street shortly after a turn, and it's clearly marked, that it is for vehicles under 3.8 meters, or 12.5 feet. So as I say, 1 person is in critical condition.

Not clear which direction the bus was traveling in, but we know that the route runs between Broomhill and Eaglesham. As of last night, a number of roads were closed. Police were, telling motorists to avoid the area completely, and ScotRail also closed a number of its lines as well due to the crash. Now First Bus, has, written a statement. It says that an investigation has been launched.

They're working with, Police Scotland with their inquiries, adding that their thoughts are with everyone affected by this incident. As you said, Leo, would have been terrifying for anyone on that bus. And a similar incident also took place last year too. 12 people were sent to hospital after a bus, another double decker bus, crashed into the very same bridge on that road.

Alright. Shamal Purnell, thank you. A man convicted of taking part in the January 6th Capitol riots has told Sky News he expects Donald Trump to set him free. President-elect Trump says he'll pardon many of the individuals involved on the first day. Our US correspondent, James Matthews, reports.

They'll forever tell the story of January 6th and the assault on the capital.

DC is not my country. It's not my town. It's not

In this place, they'll forever tell their version.

We have several rooms set up for Jan Sixers. As you can tell, he's 30. We did get some of the stuff off the street.

Nicole Reffert, hosts January 6 Families Passing Through.

Some of us build walls, but you tear them down. You're awesome.

Guy, hey, what's up to your wife? What's up, wife?

What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up?

What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up?

What's up?

What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What

She's the wife of Guy Reffitt.

Oh, I wish you was here, baby, because you're my political. You're my Abigail Adams.

He's the first man convicted, then jailed for January 6 crimes. The father of 3 had an automatic rifle in his car and took a handgun to the Capitol. Though for some It's a scenario. Uh-huh. Seeing isn't believing.

Does that look like a gun

to you?

Well, it looks like a holster to me.

Do you

not see the hard metal was showing off the metal?

That's actually on the inside of the holster.

That was a riot. Nicole, people died in that.

Yeah. Ashley Babbitt died. Benjamin Greesen died. Roseanne Boylan died. Kevin Greesen died.

Nobody nobody would have died if I cried.

I hadn't descended on the cabinet.

Well, you know what?

But, you

know, your husband's at the center of it.

He never took down a barricade ever.

With a rifle in his car and a protective vest on.

You know, you can say, you know, you being from Britain and everything, y'all have a very finicky way with guns. You know, in East Texas, we carry them in the back of our car.

People like Nicole have Donald Trump on their side. For January 6 prisoners, he uses the term hostages and has long promised a presidential pardon. Happy

birthday, dear

John. Outside their Washington jail, supporters hold a nightly vigil communicating with prisoners by phone. Hello there. It's James Matthews from Sky News in the UK here. I asked them about a Trump pardon and about the 10 year 1 from the current president, Joe Biden, to his son, Hunter.

He's so exonerated up the pardon. I really do believe that will happen. You know, Joe Biden I don't have a problem that he pardoned his son. What I have a problem with is he lied and said he wasn't.

Thomas Ballard. Hero. Logan Barnhart.

Hero.

Richard Barnett.

Hero.

Joshua Atwood. Hero. When you look at someone being pardoned for 10 years, a decade of any criminal activity they might have taken place, yeah. I think it shines very brightly on Jan sixers where many of them have no criminal record ever.

The night's vigil ends with the singing of the anthem and prisoners turning their cell lights off and on. How their story ends will be written by their choice of president, who may well choose the power of the pardon.

Still there.

Here, it's where politics and justice collide. James Matthews, Sky News in Washington.

A Sky News investigation has revealed that domestic abusers are increasingly using apps marketed as tools for parents to keep track of their children to spy on their partners. New research shared with Sky News shows a steep rise in the use of so called stalkerware hidden on victims phones without their knowledge and often with devastating effects on their lives. Just a warning, this report from our North of England correspondent, Charlotte Leaming, includes references to domestic abuse.

I seriously thought I'd been microchipped or something. Literally, I could not explain what was happening

to me and how it was happening to me, and

I never realized it could be my phone.

Melody has been haunted by her ex even months after their relationship ended. Somehow, her ex kept turning up in places Melody hadn't told anyone she would be.

I got the bus from my house to the city center for an appointment. I got off the bus and I saw my ex standing right there, like, charging towards me. I was terrified. They disappeared into the crowd and I finally relaxed. But I was suspicious something was off, especially because my phone kept dying really quickly.

I took it straight to a phone repair shop.

At the shop, Melody said they quickly discovered a hidden app called mSpy that was feeding everything on Melody's phone back to her ex through online monitoring software. The mSpy app presents itself as the best phone tracker for parental control. But alongside the website stock images of smiling happy families are reviews and blog posts and pictures that point to its other use, surveilling your spouse without their knowledge. The app was identified as Stalkerware by several cybersecurity firms and WARN, a tool that collects evidence of stalkerware in domestic abuse. Sky News put these findings to mSpy but haven't received a response.

The pitch of this as a parental control app is really just to duck below the legal radar, really, so that they can say, hey. You know, this is intended for perfectly legitimate use. So I I think that's really just a mask that they're wearing.

A red flag for Stalkerware is that it hides on the target's phone. Researchers at UCL compared monitoring software you can get through app stores with apps downloaded straight from the Internet known as sideloading. 17 of 20 sideloaded apps were hidden behind icons that look like the settings logo or Wi Fi symbol. They're designed to blend in with your phone's regular settings, making it hard to know they are there.

As technology is moving so fast and we're not keeping up with that and we're not doing enough about both holding those companies accountable for not including safety and design, but also we're not keeping up in terms of our police response.

Advocates for domestic abuse survivors want better awareness of the scale of the issue and say tech companies must put safeguards in place to stop their products becoming tools of abuse. Charlotte Leming, Sky News.

James here to tease us all with what's coming up in this sport. What's on the agenda?

A little tease. Just recapping on Premier League action from yesterday. Liverpool dropping points, Arsenal dropping points. Perhaps the door's open now for Manchester City who play Manchester United this afternoon. Also, Chelsea play this evening.

They've got a chance of closing the gap at the top to now just 2 points. So it's all still

quite open, isn't it?

It's very

open. It's exciting. It's good

it's good when there's multiple teams involved as well. We like that. We like that a lot. So that's all to come. We'll also hear from Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, ahead of this afternoon's Manchester Derby as the pressure piles also on Wolves boss Gary O'Neill who watched his players lose their call once again after defeat at home to Ipswich.

1st minister.

How are

you? Good morning. Good morning.

Nice to see you.

How are you feeling?

Looking forward to getting into the parliamentary chamber.

Are you any further forward to making a decision? No.

No. It's an important day to day.

All of the claims were in line with my parliamentary duties, so I'm making that clear to Connor.

He was a a Scot through and through.

He's a very good politician.

Alex Hammond was controversial. He was a disruptor, but above all, he was respected. Will you resign if you lose this week?

Again, I'm not planning to, of course, lose the vote in the conference. I'm planning to win that vote in the conference.

His face said it all.

My intention to stand down as party leader.

This is now a storm with deadly consequences. How are they feeling?

They're a bit scared at the minute.

They've been told to evacuate.

How are you feeling?

Tear for steak.

Hundreds of homes were wiped out by flooding. I'm Connor Gillis, Sky's Scotland correspondent.

It's probably the darkest time in my life.

Scott is 5 years sober after a cocaine addiction left him close to death. Scotland has a shameful record. Worse than England, the worst in Europe. Why not just say you failed? Because you might get more respect from families who've lost loved ones.

This is where 1 of the UK's most prolific rapists thought he'd got away with murder. Sky News can reveal that former sex workers had told police

he was

sexually violent. My Emma. Free wherever you get your news.

It's over, isn't it?

The Americans say he is Rossi, a fraudster. This has been 1 of the most bizarre cases ever heard in a courtroom in this country. A dangerous murderer. Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive Andrew Ennis after this?

Oh, papa. She says

she can forgive him, but as long as he's behind bars.

By doing the right thing, it's

destroyed your life. They terrorized me. They intimidated me.

Sky News, the full story first.

Jubilation in the streets, while some, emotional. This is a political victory for prime minister Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. I'm Neville Lazarus, and I'm Sky reporter based in Delhi. Companies like these are helping India in its trajectory to be a serious player in space exploration. Sky News, get the full story first.

We've got your Sunday mornings covered. From the front page and the sounds of the streets to the voices of the people who make the major calls, and big picture politics beyond Westminster. We'll put you at the heart of our story, and you start to Sunday. I'm ready. Are you?

Join me, Trevor Phillips, Sunday mornings on Sky News.

James is here with the sport. Liverpool obviously dropped points, but Fulham, actually, they were quite brave in that game, weren't they?

Fulham would be great

this

season. Senshires more than a surprise this season alongside Nottingham Forest, but, Marco Silva in charge of Fulham.

Yeah.

He's such a great guy. Honestly, whenever I go and interview him, it's just a pleasure. It's like chatting to a friend of mine. He is just a genuinely lovely, lovely guy. He always asks about me, and I always find that strange because my life's not very interesting compared to

it. Oh, it is.

He's a Premier League football manager. It's I'm far more interested in what he has to say, but he always asks me questions about him. So I I'm very fond of him, but he did a great job

last night

doing a good job of returning to the Liverpool ranks, getting Liverpool that equalizer. But a good result in the end, I think that won for Arnaud Sott.

This Sky News sports bulletin is brought to you by Vitality. Getting more people, more active. Live life with Vitality.

I think there's a human quality that some people, destined with their own determination.

I think that the player compared to me, I think that they have much more responsibility.

I do think there's a responsibility within the game

to prepare the lads for

how hard it's gonna be.

I started my investigation into academy football by finding out how the game's top managers get the best out of the young players. But only 9% of our academy players will ever play a professional game. Coming up in this episode, we find out how the best become the best.

You don't just get it handed to you, you're aware.

There has to be a fallback.

Chelsea Academy, that's all I've known.

Mentally, I think I've always been quite strong.

In the history of the game, almost 1300 people have had the ultimate honor of wearing an England shirt. They climbed the mountain, made it to the very top. So what does that journey look like? The journey to become an elite footballer.

It's just what I love doing. It's the only thing that I loved growing up. There was no alternative for me.

Got the big break at the age of 6? Yeah. It's an extraordinary story.

Oh, it

was just like a half term camp that the academy was doing. They'd sent invites to a few schools in the community. And luckily, it was 1 of my schools was 1 of them. As you can imagine, every every hand in the class went up. So the only way to do it was to pick names out of a hat.

Luckily, my name got got pulled out.

What was it like being in the Liverpool academy?

You get elite coaching, elite advice, elite nutrition, and it prepares you for going and being a leader in in a senior game. I think it teaches you a lot off the pitch as well rather than on. I think it instills, you know, the discipline, the sacrifice, the hard work, everything that you need to go and achieve what you want. You don't just get it handed to you. You're at work and earn it every single day.

It's a level of competitiveness against some of your closest friends and the closest people that you that you have to kind of outwork them and be better than them because you need to fight for your next contract and make it to the next step. I necessarily think that that's a really good thing because, you know, whether you do or don't make it, you're prepared for life itself because you know what it takes, and you know that even to have the smallest chance, which is what we all have, the tiniest little chance to ever make

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Okay. Let's take a quick look at today's weather, and it's looking quite murky today. But with brighter weather to come, and it's turning milder if more unsettled. It's mostly mild gray and quite windy now with fog and outbreaks of light rain or drizzle. This is over Western Hills.

Expect just a few cloud breaks mostly east of the high ground and there'll be a mainly dull morning with fog and drizzle lingering over Western Hills and heavier, more prolonged rain taking over northwestern Scotland. That's all from us at team breakfast coming up. It's Sunday morning with Trevor Phillips.

Stop the boats. Smash the gangs. Take back controls. If only words were deeds, but they aren't. The migrants keep on coming.

On Thursday, 609 people crossed the channel in small boats, more than on any winter day ever. Still, the government managed to keep out at least 1 undesirable alien, but prince Andrew may have some questions to answer. Ministers say they're getting tough with illegals. Could this be the return of the hostile environment? For the government, we'll be joined by border security and asylum minister Angela Eagle.

And for the opposition, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Phil. With China's influence on the UK under the spotlight again, we'll look at the network of authoritarian leaders around the world and the threat they pose to democracies with the author of Autocrat Inc and Applebaum. Plus with us throughout the show, former education secretary, Gillian Keegan, Sunday Times chief foreign correspondent, Christina Lam, and former leader of the Labor Party, Harriet Harman. Have fun, everybody. Welcome to Sunday morning with Trevor Phillips.

According to the United Nations, there are nearly 300,000,000 people living outside the country of their birth, more immigrants globally than at any time in human history. The world is on the move, but contrary to what some people think, they don't all want to pitch up here. United Nations says that America, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and believe it or not, Russia are ahead of us as favored destinations for people looking for a better life. Most cross borders quite legally make a valuable contribution to their new country, but a small minority don't. Some even risk their lives to make it to Britain.

This weekend, we hit a milestone that the prime minister somehow forgot to mention in his big speech last week. 35,000 dangerous and illegal small boat crossings, have been made so far this year. It's a small number set against a million or more who arrive legally and safely to work or study. But it presents a major challenge that no recent government's fully met to convince the electorate that it is us and not the smugglers who decide who comes and goes. Let's start this morning with the government.

I'm joined now by the border security minister Angela Eagle. Good morning. Morning, Neville. Before we get on to legal migration, can we talk about the, story that's emerged this morning, prince Andrew and the Chinese person who's been barred from entering the country? What can you tell us about that individual?

Well, I can't tell you anything because, as you know, because it's a security and intelligence issue and the courts have made some decisions, about that. So currently, it's only known as h 6, but the thing that we need to focus on is that he was thought to pose a threat to our security especially with what he was doing in his friendship with prince Andrew and therefore, he was barred from coming back into the country. That's the security service that's doing their job.

I I understand that you can't talk about the individual case, but just as a general point, why would that friendship be of any use to a spy?

Well, there are all kinds of things that, spies are sent to various countries to do and and to to, establish friendships with people of influence that might then be useful later on is often 1 of their modus operandi and and and they're very, then they're not short termists, they can sometimes do this over many many years and and therefore our security services are always very vigilant and keeping an eye on what's going on in that respect.

Yeah. Actually, I I think we've all seen the movies about sleepers. But, is there uneasiness, in government about the extent of his network? He's we've now seen photographs of him with 2 former prime ministers. I mean, obviously, they don't nest they had no idea who this person was, but not everybody gets to meet prime ministers.

And I I wonder how much anxiety there is, because this can't be the only such person operating here about the extent to which they are getting into, networks of influential people.

Well, obviously, I can't talk about individual Yeah. Cases, and photographs aren't necessarily, any more meaningful than photographs. We all get photographed with a lot of people in political jobs and we meet many many people, but I think that's why our security services are always vigilant, and that's why that's the day job that we pay them to do.

This cut does cut across your responsibility to some extent. Do you think and I know you have to be careful here. So just give me an, I was gonna say, an order of batting, a a rough order.

Well, let's not after the test match.

No. It's overnight. A a rough estimate. How many other people do you think you might have to deny entry to?

Well, that comes at 1 end of the spectrum. Sometimes it's safer to keep a watch on on people, but the security services will advise the security minister and the home secretary as and when required, and and they will take the action that is required when they think a threat is emerging.

And, what about the we now have 8 living prime ministers.

Yes. We were quite quite a lot the last few years.

But 8 former living prime ministers, I should say. These people are all going to be targets. Do they get special advice? I mean, what happens?

Well, I mean, obviously, ex prime ministers do all get protection and people keep an eye on them. If the security services became aware that there was a potential issue, I'm sure that they would give, any any potential target including ex prime minister's advice. But, obviously, it's important also to be sensible as an individual and be responsible for your own behavior.

I I don't quite know how to answer this question, so I'll just ask it directly. Is this latest, eruption of prince Andrew into the headlines an embarrassment for us as a country?

I'm not going to comment on the internal, issues with the royal family. I don't think that's appropriate. Everybody knows what's happened. They know the action that's been taken, and they can, come to their own judgment.

Alright. Let's let's talk about your area of responsibility. It looks as though, the number of people coming across the channel in small boats is gonna hit 35,000 this weekend. Now the majority of those have come since you took office. We've had storms.

Temperatures dropped, over the last 3 months. Yeah. Last 30 was the busiest December, day ever, we think.

Oh, that was partially because we had 9 days with no arrivals.

Yeah. But And

what happens when you have an no. But what happens when you have an industrialized people smuggling gang related, issue going on at the borders is there gets to be pent up demand when you can't cross and then if there comes a day when it's likely that you can you're likely to get more than you normally would. So this is just this this is just why we have to tackle the gangs.

Indeed. Well what happened to Smashing the Gangs? They seem resolutely unsmashed.

Well the first thing to say is, they're established, very well established, and they have been allowed to industrialize their process with very sophisticated supply lines all the way through European countries. That's why we are doing what we're doing to come to agreements with Germany. We had the Calais group meeting last week, chaired by the home secretary and her German counterpart with the French, the Dutch, and the Belgians. We need more cooperation cross border operationally which is why we've set up the border security command, but I'm not going to sit here, Trevor, and say that when you're presented with something that's this well established and this sophisticated that I can get out a magic wand and wave it, and it'll all be okay in 5 months. This is a tough job.

It will take time to do it. It will take good operational cooperation, good cross border policing. That is why the home secretary was in Italy, coming to a joint agreement about, taking down some of the financial structures that the gangs used to

I I wanna come

to that finance their activities.

I wanna come to that, and

it's perfect.

Bit by bit, we are going to dismantle

It's perfectly fair for you to say that you've got to take time. How long before we see these numbers coming down?

Well, it's a priority to get the numbers down, but

we've got long should

we We've got to get

to wait.

We've got to get a handle, on, all of these operational things. So I'm not gonna sit here and give you a date. We've had governments that have given dates about, and and figures about, getting immigration down to the tens of 1,000 and then quadrupled it. So I don't think that people want a date snatched out of the air that nobody is confident that they can meet. What they want is to see steady, regular progress, and that's what we're going to

give them.

Respect. The the government doesn't seem to be short of numbers and milestones and foundations and all the rest of it. The 1 number that you would don't won't give us is when or the 1 piece of information you won't give us is when you expect to turn this around.

Well, we are we've made a good start in 5 months. We've done a lot of international work with our partners, we are also now starting, some, advertising in some of the source countries, working with our partners as well to show potential victims of people smuggling that it's not the kind of life that they want in the UK. We are returning people who are here illegally 3 and a half 13 and a half 1000 more than at any time, since 2018. So we are doing the job, but I'm not going to pretend that I know when it'll get down to 0. We are going to reduce it.

We will do it steadily.

Okay. Let let let me ask you, about just for a couple of pieces of information. You announced that you've, as you said, returning more than 13,000 in individuals. You've you're, you sent 33 flights abroad. Which countries are they going to?

Well, there's a range of countries.

But what are the top countries?

We Vietnam, Timor Leste, Brazil. We got the 1st flight off to Nigeria, Pakistan, Albania, and a range of others that aren't charters, but other individual returns. So we've we came across a system where the last government had really stopped enforcing the results of asylum. If you're here illegally, we want you to leave. If you're here illegally and you don't have the right to be here, please leave voluntarily.

We may even assist you to leave voluntarily. If you're here and you won't leave, we will enforce your leaving in the end.

You you say it's the last government wasn't doing it, but, actually, the the truth is that, in fact, they were raising, the number of people returns. I have a look at some

the

returns had halved No. From 2010.

Yeah. Yeah. But it would you can see why, returns has halved. 2020. Remember, COVID.

I do not

The point the point is that, in 2023, enforced returns were up by 54%. Voluntary turnover

further, by the way.

If you took that graph further back

to 2010, you'd see that

Yeah.

They'd halved.

Yeah. But your number of 13,000

13 and

a half.

13 and a half 1000 that you're claiming is about the last 5 years. And my point is that the numbers were going up under the tories. And, actually, it's it's not embarrassment about simply saying that you are carrying on the trend that they established.

No. We are we are actually

much the same thing.

We are doubling down on it. We've got far more people working on it. We're doing far more enforcement of illegal working in the labor market, so there's a a 30% increase in the number of enforcement visits, more arrests, more people arrested for, employing people illegally, and we'll carry on enforcing the rules Alright. That haven't been properly enforced in in recent years.

Okay. Well, let me ask you a a straight simple straightforward question. Do we know how many undocumented migrants there are in this country?

Well, it it's not possible to know how many undocumented migrants there are. We only know the ones that we've come across. There are currently a 107,000 people in our asylum system. That's the backlog that we inherited, which we're dealing with. But if somebody's here completely illegally and they got here illegally and we've never come across them, we don't know who or where they are.

This is a genuine question. How is it possible to do your job if you don't even know how many people are encompassed in that job?

Well, we we know we know the ones that, we've come across. You wouldn't think it, but about 70% of the people that are here illegally came here legally in the 1st place and have since gone illegal on work visas or over state student visas. We know we know who they are. We know the people who come over on small boats because we encounter them. We take their biometric details.

We check them against terrorist watch lists. So we do know that.

Have you

But you asked me a question about every single person in the country.

No. I

I I asked you, do you have a number for undocumented migrants? Now in other countries, they can tell you that there are the these number are 1,000,000. And we there's research, which is on, which has been done by, universities and so on, which suggests it's something like a1000000 in this country. And I I wonder if you've asked officials to come up with an official number. Could you continue what the problem is?

If you don't have a number, then other people are going to suggest all sorts of numbers.

Yes. We we publish more and and more detailed statistics on migration in the UK than any other country. We just had a big publication of those statistics about that thick, in at the end of November, which revealed that the previous government had net migration quadrupled to nearly a1000000 a year whilst promising only, tens of 1,000. So there's plenty of statistics around, but if you ask me whether I know somebody who's sneaked in and has never come across, the the official channels, the answer is obviously we we don't know. We know a lot, but we don't know everything.

Just very quickly, briefly, Tony Blair says what we need is ID cards because analysts that that will help establish what the number is and who should be here and should not be here. Are they under consideration?

No. It wasn't in our manifesto. It is, by the way, wise to remember that actually you can't get a job. It's illegal in this country to get a job without showing your documentation. That's the enforcement we're doing in the labor market with the increasing number of arrests.

Angela Eagle, thank you for your time this morning.

Thank you.

Well, if our 90 minute program isn't enough politics for you, our podcast have you cover covered. Every weekday morning, our deputy political editor, Sam Coats, and Politico's Jack Blanchard tell you everything you need to know for the day ahead, all in under 20 minutes. You can scan your QR code on the screen right now, and you can follow politics at Jack and Sam's now. We've got a lot more to for you this morning. Shortly, we'll speak to the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Phil.

Plus, we'll discuss a seismic year in geopolitics and the trends and alliances between world leaders that we should be having our eyes on with Pulitzer prize winning journalist and Applebuck. Let's see what our panel made of all that. We're joined all morning by the former education secretary, Gillian Keegan, Sunday Times chief foreign correspondent, Christina Lam, and the former leader of the Labor Party, Harriet Harman. Let's start with this story, about