The Tories are in freefall. How much damage can they do before we get the chance to kick

them out? That's our main story tonight. I'm feeling a little bit nervous about it. I'm

also feeling nervous about the developments in the Russian war on Ukraine. Putin has a next

large parts of Ukraine, which makes it seem like it's going to be very difficult if not impossible

to find some kind of peace still. We will also be looking at the last episode of The Labour

Farsas, the Al-Jazeera documentary. Joining me all evening is Marie's MacLeod, Chief Executive of

Race on the Agenda and a Labour Councillor. Thank you so much for joining us this evening Marie's,

and we've had Marie's on multiple times before, but this is the first time as a co-host, so I am

very excited about that. The Tories have tanked the pound, almost crashed Britain's pension system,

and everyone's mortgage rates are about to skyrocket. Perhaps then it should be no surprise that

they are 33 points behind in the polls. Yes, you heard that correctly, according to you gov's

latest survey, Labour are on 54%, and the Tories are on 21%. Of course, there's time for that to

change between now and a general election, but it's certainly a steep mountain for anyone to climb,

and we might also worry about what damage Truss and Quarteng might do in the mean time.

According to the Times, ministers are drawing up plans for real-term as benefit cuts,

saving £5 billion by increasing them in line with earnings rather than with inflation. Truss

was warned by analysts that she would have to make cuts on the scale of Osborne's 2010 austerity

budget to balance the books by the second half of the decade, and the FT report it might be spending

on capital projects and research and development that would be the early targets for saving.

So a government which promised to level up and spur economic growth is going to cut benefits

and slash investment. It's all pretty terrifying, and this time it's so nutty even the telegraph

are having their doubts. Their world economy editor yesterday wrote a comment piece titled,

...