GB News has plugged a gaping hole in British broadcasting. I'm proud to be part of it 

The long-anticipated launch of GB News shows that media plurality in this country is, thankfully, being restored. The endless diet of negativity about everything that Britain has ever stood for which is pumped out by other news outlets will now be challenged by a Freeview television service that is, to quote its boss, Andrew Neil, "proud to be British".  

All of the arguments featured on the BBC, Sky and ITV (Channel 4 News is not even worth mentioning) are put from a London metropolitan perspective, where diversity of thought is non-existent. What they don't report is as important as what they do. A clear example of this can be found in the hours of debate following the shock result in the Chesham and Amersham by-election last Thursday. Despite the Liberal Democrats supporting the HS2 scheme, they cynically exploited local opposition to it and won. Most analysis also focussed on the fact that planning issues and new house building were key reasons for the Tories losing this safe seat, which is true. 

The planning and housing point is fast becoming a huge problem for the Tories in the Home Counties. Indeed, 100 Conservative MPs have signed up to a WhatsApp group to discuss the concerns of their constituents about the recent loosening of planning laws. The Tories’ 2019 manifesto states that the party aims to build 300,000 new houses every year. This is double the average of the last 20 years. Yet nowhere in any of the BBC/Sky/ITV coverage has there been any debate about why so many new houses are needed. I will return to this point shortly. 

I've been talking to the founders of GB News for some time. Just as I saw a gap in the political market in 2010 when David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband agreed on virtually every major issue, I see the same opportunity in British broadcasting. I'm pleased to say that I've now officially become a contributor to GB News and will appear at 10am every Sunday on a show called “The Political Correction". I will also offer insights to GB News at other times across the week. Despite a variety of technical problems, the station is already producing good content and, predictably, has been attacked by the Marxist Left, which has sought to ‘cancel’ it.  

I had never presented a television programme before Sunday, though after three years as an LBC presenter I am quite used to working in radio. The difference between these mediums is that on radio you can press the ‘cough’ button and talk to your producer. There were moments during my first TV show on Sunday when I had no idea whether we were heading for a commercial break or not. I seem to have survived the experience relatively unscathed. 

I used the opportunity to explain why I think millions of new homes are really needed and why Britain’s beloved greenbelt is under threat. I know the mainstream media and the vast majority of our political class would rather nobody ever mentioned immigration, which doesn’t go down well at Notting Hill dinner parties, but according to independent think tank Migration Watch UK, Britain’s population has increased by a staggering 7.7 million people between 2001-2018. Direct and indirect immigration accounts for around 80% of this figure. It would be easy to point the finger at Tony Blair, who opened up the borders, but the truth is that under successive Conservative Prime Ministers since 2010, nothing has been done to slow the rate.  

Many millions voted leave in the Brexit referendum because they believed that too many people were coming to this country and the numbers should be reduced. Boris Johnson simply brushes away this argument, saying that having control, as opposed to using it, is our Brexit dividend. Yet as things stand, one new house must be built every five minutes just to cope with current immigration levels. Under Johnson’s environmentally-obsessed Conservative administration, England's green and pleasant land will become a large building site and may remain so for decades to come. The irony is exquisite. 

I made these points on GB News yesterday. Far from the station being a one-sided propaganda machine, there was a debate with an academic from the London School of Economics. His view was that migrants tend to live in smaller buildings and population growth has not been the driving factor in the housing shortage. I believe this is nonsense, but GB News viewers were able to see both sides of the argument. Over the next few months, I will attempt to broaden the debate on many issues and to present some uncomfortable truths, sharing clips and highlights to millions of social media followers.  

It is time the government told us why they need to build millions of houses and for an honest, healthy debate to be held about the impact immigration is having on our quality of life. GB News will not shy away from such conversations. This has to be a good thing.