Welcome back to Pathways to Progress. Happy to be here this evening with Portland City Councilor's Victoria Pelletier and Roberta Rodriguez. Thanks for being here again. We get together to talk about issues here in the city. And a lot's been going on lately. So let's check in for a minute before we plunge in. Shall we have, how are things going Victoria? Oh, they're good. They're going good. It's been a long month, couple of months, couple of weeks. But things have been going well. I just celebrated my six month anniversary as a councilor. And that felt really exciting. So it was awesome. You made it to us, right? That's right.  And I'm just a big milestone person anyway. So I was like, oh my gosh, I've been doing this for six months. And every day has been a new adventure, really. So yeah, it's been good. It seems like a long six months. Really long six months. It might be sort of like teachers, though. New teachers the first year, they're like, I don't know. If they make it to Christmas, you always go, if you could make it to Christmas, you can make it. I think you've got it now. I think so, yeah. It's been, I mean, we've been so busy since we last, since we last had our show, right? We've done a school budget. We've done a city budget. We've done all sorts of other work. There was a school election. There's been just so much activity in the city. And yeah, it feels like it's just exhausting, but onward. Nonstop, yeah. But you now have a grasp of ranked choice voting, because you've lived it and you've taught it, explained it to people several times. So ranked choice voting came into the school board election. Yeah, so we had, yeah, I had a personal encounter with ranked choice voting and got to find out how the city decides ties. But this week, we had a school board election with two open seats, two open at-large seats, and one open district five seat, and a really contested race in terms of how many candidates there were. There were 12 total candidates. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, so the ranked choice voting came into play. Sure. And the runoff tabulation came into play. There were no ties. No ties. It was a little bit cleaner. I think they got it, figured it out in like 15 minutes after they did the runoff. Tori, if you wanna talk a little bit, I think maybe we have a lot more to say about what happened before the election. Yeah, I mean, I think the only thing I will say for a post-election is the most interesting part is that they will have to run again for the November seat. And I think that that's something that wasn't widely known by individuals. So the two individuals that won will only have it until November and then they will have to run again. So they're essentially gonna continue campaigning throughout the summer and throughout the fall. So even though they won the seat, it's not like they have it for that long. And so that part's really interesting because I think that they'll have to get papers again for the November election, probably by the end of this month. And so it's like, you're doing it over again and you're running again, running another campaign, doing the same thing. So I think that will be interesting to see who comes out to run again for the November seat. And then that I think will be a full term. So yeah. That's those two seats are Anna Travaros and my school board seats because we left with a year left on our three-year term. So that's why this is such a short term. And both you and Anna left to serve on the city council. Versus Jeff Irish, he resigned from the board a year into his term so that District Five member now or elect Sarah Brighton will be there for the next two years and then she'll have to run it if she decides to for a full term. So did your candidates win? Am I allowed to say that? I'm sure you had preferences when you ranked them. You probably. I endorsed two of the two at large candidates that won Ben Grant and Sarah Lent. So I knocked on doors for them. I did lid drop for them, my canvas for them. So I'm ecstatic to see them there. I think they're strong candidates and they're who I want to represent our schools at this time. On the District Five seat, Sarah Brighton is I did not endorse her officially. I live in District Five and that's what I was rooting for. Her and Liz Capone-Aurekas were the two candidates that I was pulling for. Liz came in third place. But I'm personal friends with her. I'm a strong believer that her heart is in the right place and she's just ridiculously smart. So I wanted her to get a chance. And Sarah Brighton is gonna represent the district well. There were a couple other candidates in there that I know very well that were not aligned, I would say, with the same values that I've seen voters ask for in our schools and some of the work that we've had to advance over the last several years. So by far, Sarah Brighton was, in my opinion, the best choice in voters, you know, picked her. So there were some pretty conservative candidates, I think, among those 12, right? People that are unhappy with the direction that Portland's moving or the Portland schools are moving of being more inclusive and more equitable and having those values and those goals. Do you wanna talk about any of the campaigning that went on or? Yeah, I mean, the first thing that's just frightening and you have really what you would only see at this time is national talking points and rhetorical talking points that are really incredibly conservative and far right groups are bringing out there. So they're talking about critical race theory in our schools, they're talking about sex education and they're complaining about all the equity work that the schools are doing, saying that that's not where our attention should be and where investments should be focused on. And then the language that they use to knock on all that is incredibly problematic because we know that all the equity work and all the investments that we've been pushing for in the schools is specifically to help the students that we've recognized through achievement data, through enrollment in AP classes and all the markers that we know are conducive to success post-graduation. We know that these kids are not getting the same services. So when we invest in them, when we try to advance them and you see this pushback, it's incredibly problematic of how do we advance the needs of the most marginalized people in our community when some folks won't even acknowledge that there's a problem. So yeah, I was worried for a moment there. Victoria, remind me what the percentage of eligible voters the turnout was. It was pretty incredibly low, wasn't it? So it was 14% of Portland of registered voters that went to vote and what's interesting is I put up this whole thing about it and I still stand by that amount is low and embarrassing but I got some data that said that that was like pretty standard for off-election years and for especially June elections. But it was still really low and I think when we have 12 candidates, it was also interesting because I didn't see a ton of press around these candidates. There were a couple of forums but I just felt like, and maybe it's just because we just campaigned to, I felt like every other day we had something to do. We had a forum or we had an interview where just information was very accessible but I got a lot of messages from people just saying like, I don't know how to find any information on the candidates. I don't know what's going on. And so I think that also led to such a low voter turnout because people were just kind of like, I haven't seen anything. I heard from some people that said they didn't even know we were having an election. So I'm more concerned I think with that because that can't happen again in November and I think we have some really important elections coming up. We have important local elections happening. We have important state elections happening and I just really wanna make sure that people are understanding that we need to get to the polls. We have a governor's race in November. Like I just hope that Portland is really showing up and improving that we are a city that is really invested in what's happening locally. And I think we are. And so I would love to be able to say like, Portland we may not agree on everything but we are a 60% voter city. Like everybody votes here for that we have a majority voting city. And that way I think when we do get these people in positions of power, we can say it's really truly reflective of the entirety of Portland or at least the majority of Portland. So it makes it hard when we see such a low number. And it's just concerning I think for future elections. I hope that doesn't happen again. Well, you're a good leader for that. And I think the young people especially, I noticed that you invited the King Middle School students into the council chamber since I've seen you last. And there was some really fun looking photos on social media of the kids in the chambers. So how did that come about?  So King Middle School had a climate awareness rally. So they marched from King Middle School all the way to city hall, which was really exciting. They made signs. They were holding their own protests and they were raising this awareness. And they had speakers, they had performers that were singing, they're singing and dancing and playing instruments. And I was there supporting them along with two other counselors, counselors RO and counselor Fornir. And then we all just were kind of like, what if we just invited them inside and took them on a tour, it was very unplanned. Luckily the city manager was there and counselors RO ran up and asked and she said yes. And we were like, okay, we're going in. So it was cool because we were like, okay, two lines and then everyone's gonna merge into one. And we're gonna be really quiet.  And that was also really great.  That doesn't always happen. So it's just like hearing everybody come up the stairs. But I mean, it was great. They filled into council chambers. We, they got to ask questions. They came up to the microphone and they were practicing giving public comment. And I think they had a really great time. It was, it was more fun cause it wasn't planned and it was just something that we got to experience with them together. So that was really cool. But that's the kind of thing that creates future voters. Oh, absolutely. Then they're excited to be able to cast their first vote. Yeah, it was really, really fun. Well, as long as we're on the subject of schools, I also noticed this week that some data came out about middle school, about disciplinary data in the Portland School District that was concerning. It didn't surprise me as a long time educator because the fact that a student of color is more than twice as likely to be experienced out of school suspension or that kind of level of disciplinary action is a terrible thing and it's chronic and it's been happening a long time. There were some odd things in the article like the Department of Education saying, oh, we don't keep track of that data by race and you and I worked in schools were like, well, yes you do cause you get federal money, so you have to. But do you want to comment, Roberto, on what the data said to you? Yeah, so I think let's start with why this data was presented to the school board in the first place. A couple of weeks ago or like three weeks ago, middle school students over at Lyman Moore and Lincoln set up a protest so that they can share their experiences of having had both staff and students harass them with either racist statements, homophobic statements and just hurtful things. And when it involved the school culture, they felt like a protest was the way for them to express themselves. And literally they organized themselves, they scheduled it even at Lyman Moore. I know that some staff helped the students sort of kind of organize and do science and whatnot. And then Lincoln had a process as well. So after the protest, there was a lot of pushback about how the students protested and whether or not they should have been allowed to do that and how the schools managed it. But a lot of the focus went away from what they were protesting about, right? Like we know how that works, right? They never liked how you protest, just ignoring what you're protesting about. Don't sit up, don't stand down, don't take a knee, don't. So then the superintendent presents this data as a way to say that, listen, our data, our objective data shows that there is discrimination in our schools and we're seeing it by way of increased suspensions and discipline that has a disproportionate representation of our black students, of our ELL student, our special ed students. And so that might not be the strongest argument to show it, but there's a lot more themes about this, right? So we know that two or three years ago we had a study done looking at the experiences of all staff who identify as BIPOC staff members. And this report, which was done by Bowdoin School with Doris Antoro, Julia Hayes, Juan Alberto Morales, literally summarized the experiences of BIPOC staff members and they came up with two themes. One is the impenetrable wall of whiteness and the other one is the suffocating smog of racism. So literally they're saying that their views and their realities are not being valued in our schools.  Like the staff are experiencing this in our schools. And then you have the children literally reiterate the same thing by way of their protest. So it's clear to me that that's what's happening inside of our buildings. We've heard it from everyone. Every time I went into a school and I used to go to events all the time when I was on the board, these kids would be, they wanted to go out of their way to tell me that that's how they felt. I remember them waiting for me and I can tell that they're waiting to catch and tell you something. They'd be like, oh man, these teachers don't care. And I'm not saying that that's exactly how it is, but when so many kids are telling you the same thing over and over, you gotta look a little bit deeper. And so that's the reality of our schools. That's not just Poland schools, right? That's public education. These inequities exist everywhere. And it's not just public education, right? We see it all throughout systems.  Last year, mostly like two years ago, we had the principal at Lincoln famously wrote an email to the council where she literally said these big national problems just don't exist in Portland. I remember that. And I brought that up as it should have done in executive session, saying that I don't believe that a person that has these views, given the data that we have, should be in a leadership position in our schools. And then Jeff Irish, former school board member, famously, resigned and threw that letter out into the open, exposing and blaming me for the problems, right? I had forgotten that that was executive session until he revealed the, because of course, personnel matters are private and health not for the public. And so when you have leadership that's denying the reality of our students and our staff, how could people out here in the city sit and say that we don't have those problems in our schools? They're telling us over and over again. I've heard students at Lewiston High School say that there are those problems. I've seen students at Bangor High School say that there are those problems. And I taught in the Kerabek School district for many years and the Mesolensky School District before that up in Central Maine. There were those problems. So saying that they don't exist is willfully being ignorant and not wanting to support.  Like you were talking about, you were telling me that during high school, I believe it is, every incoming freshman is automatically enrolled in an AP class. They don't necessarily have to take the AP exam or pay the fee to get the credits that you can get from taking an advanced placement course. But that access, that equity of access is huge because all those things are like gateways that some students don't get through after spending many years in a school district being told like, you're not smart enough, you're not good enough, you're not gonna have a job like that, you'll never be a professional or in so many subtle ways. And wasn't there a huge pushback to AP for all or AP for everybody? So this all came about several years ago. We did a study where we looked at the graduating class of 2016 and we traced them all the way back to middle school and figure out what common themes can we find in these students that after they graduate high school are going to college, staying in college more than two years and then eventually getting a degree. And we wanted to see what themes emerge and two things came up. One of them was attendance, so being in school. And the other one was access to rigorous material by way of AP and college credit classes in high school. So having a policy like Dr. Ahmed put in place over there in high school that every incoming freshman has an AP class in their schedule is key to breaking down those barriers, those opportunity gaps. I remember when I heard that those were the key things to success for our students, I started to ask for data about discipline. Because how are we getting, how is it that the kids are not in school because they're being suspended? And then I asked for AP enrollment data. And I have it all saved. You can see for years before Dr. Ahmed went into there in high school, the discrepancies were ridiculous. It was literally just white female students in AP classes. That was the vast majority of them. And then slowly as we started to make it a policy that every student has access to it, we started to see more equitable outcomes. But it happens literally by force. It was Dr. Ahmed up there, say I shouldn't have mentioned his name, I feel bad. It was the leadership in the school saying that we believe in this, we're gonna act in it. And even though there was a lot of pushback from people in the district, they stood their ground. And now the kids have opportunities that they didn't have several years ago.  And sometimes it kind of paints a target on your back to be a leader and stand up for things that are right. I know that tomorrow's the Pride Parade, right? It's Pride Month. And tomorrow's the Pride Parade in Portland. And I think Victoria, that you were telling me that there have been some disturbing reports of possible disruptions tomorrow and safety issues. Do you feel like talking about that? Yeah, and I think it's, and it just happened. So I feel like that's why I like brought it in here today. And it feels like it's just adding to me feeling a little bit frazzled. But there were messages that I was getting from individuals in Portland and photos that I was getting that there was concern that there was a proud boy presence. That would be- Getting how? Like how were you receiving it? Oh, just on Instagram, in my direct messages. So like people were sending me photos or people were sending me like direct screenshots of other individuals saying, here's what I saw. And I just think that there is concern that there's an existing proud boy presence that's gonna make themselves known tomorrow at the Pride Parade. And this has been in photos. There was a photo of an individual being handed a bulletproof vest that somebody had sent. There was a post about a potential like white lives matter counter protest that would be happening tomorrow. Counter protest to Pride. Counter protest to Pride. Which that is a counter protest. Yeah, it doesn't really mesh, but I think it's just basically there are groups here and there are individuals here that wanna make their presence known in opposition to anything that is celebrating any marginalized identity, whether when I said, think I said this earlier, it could be Pride, it could be a Black Lives Matter protest tomorrow, but any event that is in celebration of a group that has been historically underrepresented, we have individuals that don't think that that's good and wanna show up in counter protest to tomorrow's celebrations. So I had some conversations before I got here with the city manager and with other counselors and everyone is aware. They don't think that there is an issue. All of this has been monitored by city staff and by law enforcement for the past couple of weeks. They don't see anything that they said was out of the ordinary, but everyone essentially put out something that was just to be aware of your surroundings, which should unfortunately be commonplace regardless of what's happening tomorrow. But yeah, I mean, it's hard that we're having that conversation now, but we just had a horrific school shooting. Again, we had a horrific shooting in Buffalo and I just think that being out in existing and being different in any way puts a target on your back and we have individuals now that are living in Portland that are really trying to show up and make themselves known in opposition to that and it's really hard. I mean, the bulletproof vest clearly seems like an attempt at intimidation because even if you wanna do a counter protest about the Gay Pride Parade, where does the bulletproof vest come in? Yeah, and I don't know if it was being given to this person and in saying we are gonna do a shooting tomorrow, but you stay safe. And again, it could be nothing, it could just be a photo of nothing, but I just think especially now and just given the track record that we've had for the past however many years we wanna go back, these events are events where people who have a lot of hate and just wanna show up and disrupt will have the opportunity to do that because everyone will be out in Portland tomorrow. And so, I'm hoping that by exposing that the individuals will see it and say like, okay, well, everybody in Portland now knows that we're here. We were planning on a surprise something, but it's still, I mean, it's hard. And I think it's hard to be an elected official and to be a black woman that's an elected official to speak out against some of these groups, especially the Proud Boy groups that we have here because now I'm the loudest voice in the room and I'm being looked at and can be targeted. So, I don't know, it's tough. Yeah, this hasn't been in the media at all. I mean, I haven't seen it cover.  So, we're kind of breaking that news here because we're live right now on cable TV. But, I mean, I sincerely hope, I haven't been to every Pride Parade in Portland, certainly, but I've never known of any disruptions or dangerous situations at Pride Parades here. I have been to some other street events in Portland where there was some, you know, hostility between opposing groups and a little bit of trash talk and I've never, one time there was a group that was parading through the streets and they dropped to their flag and one of the counter protesters who didn't like the fact that these right-wingers were parading through the streets, ran out and picked up the flag and gave it to them and, you know, you might see that as naive or you might see it as heartwarming. I keep feeling like, you know, our corporate overlords would like to see us have a civil war instead of the revolution that we need to meet the people's needs and get government back to representing the actual people and I hate falling for that. On the other hand, I think we need to take really seriously threats and intimidation aimed at, you know, someone who's serving as a city counselor. It's not like a highly paid job with a whole lot of perks. It's like a lot of work. I was thinking of that today. Yeah, I was thinking of that today where I was like, we don't get paid and with that comes the knowledge of just being like, okay, I'm in a visible position and it's not just this, but it's like I speak at protests. I was speaking at the pro-abortion protest, very visible. There was like a very many, I don't even know that it took off, but there was talk about a counter protest at a pro-abortion rally and I just think it's always going to happen whether it's a very small thing or whether it's a huge thing, but I think it's great for people to just be aware that we are in a time where, of course, we're reading horrific news every single day. There are shootings every single day. There's a lot of targeted hate out there and I just think it's important for people to just know that and I don't want to scare anybody and I hope that tomorrow is fine, but I would have rather said something about what I was getting sent to me. I do feel like that is partially like my responsibility as a counselor too, with like a platform to raise that awareness, so I'm glad I did and I hope that tomorrow is nothing but joy and love and happiness, so. Well, if you didn't say something and then something did happen, then you'd feel terrible because you'd feel like, oh, people didn't try to pass the warning through. I mean, is it a safety issue for you, Roberto, standing up for what you believe in at times? Yeah, I mean there's, so, right, like when we talk about safety, safety manifests itself in so many different ways, right? This is your physical safety, right? Am I gonna be physically harmed?  This is a small community.  They live close to us. Our kids growing up together, going to school together. I mentioned it before the taping. I coached a lot of the girls whose parents are out there talking about us and throwing all this hate at us. You know, I find it incredibly disturbing that in such a tight community, we throw rocks at each other so just freely.   When people come at me, I worry about my family. You know, when I see, because Tori does an amazing job in social media and being transparent and informative and I see her and I know that I can imagine what her DMs look like. I can imagine the kind of hate she gets. And then when she shares it with me, I worry about like her health. So that alone I think is important and that's safety. And when we talk about wanting to inspire people and wanting to get people involved, that's not the climate that I want young people to get involved in. I wanna step down from my council seat and open the door or like pave the path for someone to be here and be effective without having to deal with like their safety being. Don't you think that's a lot of the goal of this type of intimidation, is making sure that the next Victoria Pelletier, the next Roberta Rodriguez, because I don't know, that kind of seems dangerous and risky and I've got people I love that I want her to be safe. Yeah, and I think it's a double-edged sword when you are like paving a path that hasn't existed before as like a black counselor or counselors of color that like are have not existed historically the way that white counselors have. So I go back and forth between like I have to take all of this so that the next generation doesn't have to like I will go forward and raise as much awareness as I can and be as great of a counselor as I can. So like whoever comes next, the next Tory can just serve and do a great job and not have to deal with like all of this outside like racism and sexism. But then on the other hand, I'm like, do I want to bring another person into this environment that I'm in that is harmful and can be really toxic and can really impact your mental health or do I just want, you know, all the black people to just like find joy, like don't come into the council just find joy and be happy because this is not a safe space for us.  So, you know, every day it changes, but yeah, I do think individuals want to make sure that we are silenced and want to make sure that we don't speak out anymore. And because of that, it's now I have to speak out. I have to continue to do it because if not, if I get silenced in any way, then they have all my power. So I need to make sure that I was continuing to speak up and really thinking of the younger generation, especially like all the kids at King who I hope someday want to be involved. I have to be a role model for them and continue moving forward in the face of all of this stuff that comes at you, especially I think when you're a counselor with a platform and somebody that uses Instagram the way that I do and someone that uses social media the way that I do. So, you know, it's tough, but I think like we just, I focus on what am I doing this for and who and it's always the people that are gonna come after me and I hope that I can make it a little bit easier for them. Would you agree? I agree. I agree. I agree. I agree. I agree. I agree.


pleasure to introduce to you all today our Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. Thank you, thank you, thank you Sarah, isn't she great ladies and gentlemen, she's fantastic MP. Right it's really great to be with you, let me get straight to it, 2023 last year was not an easy year for anyone, we were still dealing with the legacy of Covid and the impact that was having on backlogs and our public services, the war in Ukraine, still driving up everyone's energy bills and the dangers of a new conflict in the Middle East. But we have made progress and at the start of this year we are heading in the right direction. The choice now is whether we stick with the plan that is starting to deliver the long-term change that our country needs or go back to square one with no plan, no progress, with borrowing taxes increasing and the country heading in the wrong direction. Now I am determined ever since I first got this job to govern in the national interest not to take the easy way out, to do what's right, to do what's necessary and that's why I set out a year ago five priorities, those five priorities weren't just my priorities, they were your priorities, they were the country's priorities, and they were about our economy, our borders and our NHS, they were the most important issues facing our country then and they are the most important issues facing our country today and I wanted to start by giving you an update on how we're doing and the plan for 2024. So in a nutshell on all five priorities we have made progress but I know there is more to do in the years ahead. Let's start with the boats and stopping the boats. Last year the number of people coming here illegally was down by over 35%. In the last quarter of the year it was down by over 50%. So that shows that we're making progress, particularly when you consider when I got this job the numbers had quadrupled in the past few years, they had never gone down and everyone said to me you can't do anything about this problem, it's insoluble, but we cooperated more closely with the French, got a new returns agreement with Albania, increased the number of raids we were doing to tackle illegal working, arrested hundreds of people connected with this trade, that's how we got the numbers down. But there is more to do but it's really important, it's essential that we stop people coming here illegally because it's simply not fair. It should be us, your government who decides who comes to our country and not criminal gangs. Now the long term solution to this problem is to have a deterrent. People need to know that if they come to our country illegally they won't get to stay and they will be removed. That's why Rwanda is so important and we'll be bringing that legislation to parliament in the coming weeks and if Kierstammer really cared about this issue he would back that bill instead of playing political games but we all know he's not actually interested in stopping the boats, he's more interested in stopping the flights that are trying to remove people who shouldn't be here illegally. Next the NHS and waiting lists, I come from an NHS family and over the past year we have put record resources into the NHS, more money than ever before but more doctors, more nurses, more ambulances, 200 community diagnostic centres and surgical hubs. That's why the NHS today is treating more people than it is ever done in its history but we have to be frank, although we virtually eliminated the people waiting the longest we haven't yet made a significant enough dent in the waiting lists. Now partly that is due to industrial action although I am pleased that we have managed to reach reasonable and fair pay settlements with over a million NHS workers including on nurses, midwives, therapists, paramedics and most recently consultant doctors and specialty doctors and we saw towards the end of last year that when there was a period with no industrial action in fact waiting lists came down, they fell by 65,000 so that shows that this is possible but while we're waiting to resolve that we're getting on and doing the things that will strengthen our NHS for the long term. We all know we need to train more doctors and nurses so for the first time in the NHS is 75 year history we have given the NHS a long term workforce plan and funded it so we will train considerably more doctors, nurses and everyone else we need at home and enable them to work better over the years to come and when smoking accounts for almost one hospital admission every minute we're now going to raise our first smoke-free generation to ease those pressures and we're empowering all of you giving patients choice of where they get treated because that's how we can drive up standards and quality now none of those things are overnight fixes but those are exactly the kind of long-term decisions that will strengthen the NHS for the future. Now three of the five priorities were economic it's not an accident it's because the economy is the foundation of everything that we want to achieve in our country now we're here we have made good progress debt as measured by the independent office for budget responsibility is on track to fall as we said that's important it's not abstract it's about financial security for our country for our public services we remember a while back when you get that wrong what happens now we all want the economy to grow faster of course we do but when I got this job people were predicting that last year we would see a year long deep recession we did much better than that and we outperformed countries like Germany in the process wages are now growing faster than inflation we've got a bigger manufacturing sector in this country than France we've just overtaken them thanks to fantastic companies like the one I was just visiting down the road with Anthony and we've got more successful tech companies in our country than France and Germany combined and our first priority was about halving inflation it was the most important one I'm pleased that we've delivered that ahead of schedule because that is easing the burden of the cost of living on all of you and everyone else in our country it was a most important priority it gives people financial security now that didn't happen by accident it happened because we took difficult responsible decisions to control spending and borrowing and welfare and allow the Bank of England to get on and do its job and because we did all of that and successfully halved inflation we are now in a position where we can cut your taxes that's what I always said that we would do change economic gears once we've got inflation down and just this past weekend we introduced a tax cut for millions of people in work reducing the rate of national insurance from 12 to 10 percent meaning for a typical worker on 35,000 pounds they will see a tax cut worth 450 pounds extra in their bank accounts now we also are able to cut taxes for businesses hundreds of them wrote to us at the end of last year and said the single most transformational thing we could do to drive investment growth and productivity was to cut taxes on business investment and we delivered a massive 11 billion pound tax cut to do that to spur them on to invest more in our country's growth and prosperity and you can start to see that this is working the announcement of Nissan investing in Sunderland to build next generation of electric cars Microsoft doubling its footprint in the UK or stood building the world's largest offshore wind farm just off the East Coast so that is all starting to head in the right direction now you might have heard that later this year there's going to be an election now the choice facing our country of that election is do we stick with the plan that is starting to deliver the long-term change that our country needs or do we go back to square one I want to deliver the peace of mind to all of you that will come from knowing that we are building a brighter future for your children and grandchildren and I want to deliver a renewed sense of pride in our country now the alternative is Kirstama who would just take us back to square one he's been leader of the opposition for four years now and in that time he hasn't said what he would do differently that's because he doesn't have a plan he just snipes from the sidelines instead he can't tell you how he's going to stop the boats because he doesn't have a plan to do that he can't tell you how he's going to control welfare because he doesn't have a plan he can't tell you how he's going to fund his 28 billion pounds a year spending spree because he doesn't have a plan to pay for it but we know what that means you'll pay for it in higher taxes he doesn't have a plan for Britain because he's more interested in political game playing and saying as little as possible to get votes now look that's not my approach I'm prepared to take the difficult decisions for the long-term benefit of our country and you solely do that after the pandemic making decision to reduce overseas aid given the other demands we had on our public finances being restrained and fair on public sector pay charting a new pragmatic course on net zero that gets us there but saves you thousands of pounds all making a big decision to reinvest the money from HS to in local transport across the country I don't shy away from those things I'll always level with you even if it makes my life trickier and when I see a challenge I can take it on and fix it no matter how difficult it is if it's good for our country and that's the approach you need as Prime Minister if you want to build a brighter future now my vision is of a country where hard work is always rewarded where ambition and aspiration are celebrated where we have security at home and abroad where young people get the skills and the opportunities they need to succeed in life where families are supported and people who have worked hard all their lives have the dignity they deserve in retirement I want to bring you the peace of mind that you can look to the future with optimism and a renewed sense of pride in our country the alternative is that we just go back to square one instead we should stick with the plan that is starting to deliver the long-term change that our country needs and that means a brighter future for all of you for everyone in our country for all your families and a brighter future for Britain thank you all right okay right let's open up take all your questions I think we've got some mics floating around here we go over here our hosts that seems appropriate thanks for going to act into the Stanley it's appreciated and good to see my question is about the independent regulator that laid from the family review and it's simple really it's do you support an independent regulator if you do how are you going to break the impasse between the Premier League and EFL and if in the event that you can't do that will the regulator have the powers to intervene yeah well first of all can I say thank you for having us it's absolutely fantastic to be here can everyone just join me in saying thank you so I absolutely love football I grew up with football I'm from Southampton I'm a passionate lifelong Saints fan and I understand how important football is to our communities now look of course the Premier League is an incredibly important asset of our country it is a global asset that we want to make sure we promote and protect but equally football is incredibly important in communities like this up and down the country and we need to make sure that fans have the appropriate amount of participation and say in the sport that they love in the communities that they call home that's why we did the fan led review that's why we're implementing all its recommendations and crucially why in the King's speech my first King's features Prime Minister we announced that we would have a new bill to introduce the independent regulator for the industry to protect fans and their voice and the heritage of our clubs and crucially to your last point it's important that the incredible financial success that we enjoy at the top end of football is shared throughout the football pyramid so clubs like this and across the country can benefit from that and we can nurture the sport for generations to come when I'm looking forward to seeing some of your youths afterwards and that's why the regulator will have the powers if needed to impose financial redistribution settlements now my hope is the Premier League and the EFL can come to an appropriate arrangement themselves that would be preferable but ultimately if that's not possible and the regulator will be able to step in and do that to ensure that we have a fair distribution of resources across the football pyramid of course promoting the Premier League but supporting football and communities like this up and down the country because it's a sport we all love and we've got to protect it properly for the future. Right, where are we going? You're heading somewhere. Right, ma'am, hi, miss, hi. My name is Prime Minister. You talked about long-term change a lot in your introduction just now. I'm wondering if, I'm the Chief Operations Officer at Sundown Solutions, it's a local business. We employ a lot of local young adults. It seems like there is a lack of opportunity for children and young adults who are non-academic in the current climate. I'd like to know if there's any plans in your manifesto moving forward to incorporate skill sets rather than academia for people who are coming to us really unconfident individuals. Yeah, that is a, what was your name? Kelly. Kelly, thank you for doing what you're doing. That is an absolutely brilliant question and one that I've been thinking about for years, actually. I'll tell you why I'm in a second. So at conference, I announce some plans to create what's called an advanced British standard and what that's going to do is bring together the best of A levels and a technical qualification we have called T levels and bring them together under one banner. So we stop this artificial divide between academic and technical roots in our classroom because my view is we've got to value all these roots equally and kids everywhere, young people everywhere should get the skills that they need to succeed and we shouldn't artificially divide them. And we're going to make sure that as we do that, that we give everyone the minimum amount of maths and English that they need to succeed in life and they can get the appropriate qualification that they need with more teaching hours. It's going to be a big change. It's not going to happen overnight, but long term, it will get us to an education system that finally ends this artificial divide between academic and technical education. The other thing I'm really passionate about as apprenticeships, as I'm sure you are and we were talking about that at the business we were at, because they provide an incredible route for young people to enter into the workforce to earn and learn at the same time and show that it's possible to do that now in every career. And what's happening right now as we speak is that on the UCAS system, or those of you that will have children or have been through it yourself know that's how we go to university, years ago I said that's not right because you've got a classroom where some people are applying for apprenticeships and yet all these other kids are going on the UCAS system and it felt like you were a second class citizen and I think I was right and we said, hang on, we should be bringing apprenticeships onto the UCAS system so it feels the same for everybody and that is happening as we speak right now to give you a sense of we're moving in the right direction and the contrast here is clear because the Labour Party have been pretty clear about what they want to do. We raise money from businesses to fund apprenticeships across the country and the Labour Party want to change that and they want to halve the number of apprenticeships that are in this country because of those changes. I don't think that's right. The Labour Party is still clinging to that outdated notion that absolutely everybody must go to university. We don't think that. I don't think that. We're actually clamping down on rip-off degrees. We are funding apprenticeships properly and ending that artificial divide in the classroom because education is the best way we have to transform people's lives and like you, I believe, Kelly, that it shouldn't matter academic, technical, whatever it is. You just need a great start in life and you should have every opportunity to succeed. There was someone over here. Here we go, there we go. Yes, sir. Hi, my name's James. I run a local manufacturing company. So you started that speech, well, before the speech with the perfect note by saying how brilliant our MP is and I couldn't agree more. She's brought money to this constituency, things that just activity that we haven't seen in my lifetime. So how important is it to you that we keep seeing these investments into places, these so-called forgotten towns or previously forgotten towns and we keep bringing money to these places, investments to these places, businesses like mine, we can grow, we can become larger in the future and employ more people and that's a real manufacturing hub. Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you for what you were doing on the business side. I was saying, we've overtaken France and the size of our manufacturing sector last year. To think about that, that's quite counterintuitive but that's because of the success of your business and indeed, as I said, the business that Aunty and I were just visiting down the road. Things are going really well and the tax cut that we've just implemented will be particularly good for manufacturing companies. But this is a really important point actually and so I was a great example of it. Like what does levelling up mean? Right, like it's a phrase, people think that sounds good, what does it mean? I'll tell you what it means to me. It means that no matter where you grow up in our country, you should feel that you and your family, your children have the opportunity to succeed in life and that you can feel enormous pride in the place that you call home, right? That's in a nutshell what levelling up means to me and when we make these levelling up investments, that's what we're geared to doing, right? And I was a great example of an MP working with a government that is focused on delivering levelling up in practice, doing that. So the two investments that I think I was talking about are being replicated in towns across the country and we're gonna keep going. The levelling up from bid in the market hall where I started the whole under the sign photo thing with Jeremy and I, right? But that's great. Again, to your point, people had talked about that. I remember we were there. There was that lady that was almost in tears that we've been talking about this for years and years and years and finally it's happening, right? And it's gonna be transformational. And then most recently what we did, similarly to what we're doing in Burnley, because I visited Antony to announce that a while ago, is something called a long-term plan for towns where we're giving you 20 million pounds and then ditto in Burnley with Antony, 20 million pounds, long-term funding, not for one year, that will last for many years and putting you in charge of it. And that's being replicated at 50 different towns across the country, many here in the Northwest and you'll decide what the right priorities are for your area. And actually when I was with Antony and we were talking to some of the employees today, they were really focused on provision for young people, youth clubs. I used to volunteer at a Boys and Girls Club when I lived abroad and we were visiting a Boys and Girls Club and one of the dads who we were speaking to today saying that would be a good use of that money and Antony was saying, great, we're gonna talk to all of you, we're gonna put a team together, hear everyone's views and invest that money in our local community in a way that local people want. And that's similarly what I did with HS too. Right, that was a big decision, not everyone in this room I get will agree with it, but I thought actually, hang on, this thing is costing more and more money, travel patterns have changed, we're still gonna have a fast train between Manchester and London, but we can take that money instead and we can invest it in literally hundreds of projects across the country and every part on the forms of transportation that all of you use every day, fixing potholes, capping bus fares at two pounds, improving your local roads, dealing with pinch points, electrifying rail lines across the North, East, West, and that is again, for me, it's all levelling up, and helping businesses as well. So look, that's my approach to it, you're lucky you've got fantastic MPs and there's Chris there as well, you've got lots of them here that are doing exactly that, but you should know you've got a government that is gonna keep investing in your communities, they will not be forgotten, I'm a Northern MP as well. I wanna make sure each and every one of you feels that this government has got your back and it's gonna invest in your community. All right. I'm going back over here. Hi Prime Minister. Hi Prime Minister, I'm Nick, I'm the MD of an independent retailer in Ozil Twistle. You've touched on the levelling up and you've touched on the economy growing. I just wondered what's the plans to further support retail in the high street and keep high streets alive and what's the plans for that to keep going? No, it's a great question, that we all love our high streets and our town centres, and if we're being honest with each other, a lot of us look around at some of them and say, gosh, they're not heading in the right direction. Now, that's nobody's fault, right? Obviously, we all, if you put your hands up, who's bought something online in the past few months, I'm sure pretty much everyone would have, right? And that makes life more challenging. And now what can we do to help? Well, there's a few different things. As I said, it's a levelling up fund, right? So the market hall we were at, or more generally, when I see how communities are investing those funds, lots of it is going into improvements in high streets and town centres, because that is important to keep them vibrant, change how people move around, parking all the rest of it. And so that's an important thing that we can do. Second is planning. It's a bit technical, but actually when I talk to retailers and people involved on high streets, I say, look, you've got to make it easier for us to adapt and change. You know, this used to be a shop and now it needs to be a restaurant or it used to be a restaurant and now it needs to do something else. All we want to put some flats in above the shops on the high street and the way they used to be years ago so that we can have people living in those areas. So we're reforming the planning system to make all of that change easier. And then the last thing is tax. And I'm sure if I asked you the thing you would say to me is business rates, as every retailer does, and we've done as much as we can just to ease the burden of business rates.  And so where we can ease the burden of business rates, we have done. And together with the planning changes, the investment in high streets, I think represents the right approach. We also, going back to when I was chancellor, have worked with other countries around the world to implement what's called a digital services tax so that we can tax the large technology companies properly and fairly so that you're competing on a level playing field. Now, that's something that we can't do alone. We've got a temporary fix at the moment, but actually when I was chancellor, we worked with 100 countries around the world to come to an international agreement because also these countries, companies are very large. So we're going to implement that over the coming years as well, just to make sure there's a level playing field. And hopefully all of that will help you and your business too. All right, good. We've got one more from the audience and then we'll turn to the media. Yes, go on. Yes, yeah, fantastic. Hi, thank you. It's Miranda Barker, chief executive, Slank's Chamber of Commerce. It's nice to see you again here. When I talk to my businesses and they are saying what they need most from government, they say they need certainty because we've seen investment opportunities and you want businesses to invest in partnership with you in transport, in manufacturing, in low-carbon technology manufacturing. And we've seen an awful lot of flip-flopping of policies going in the past few years with the investment being pulled on certain schemes or certain low-carbon tech regulations dismantled. What can you say to us to convince us that you are the party of certainty, of partnership, of working with businesses to get that investment into the UK together? Yeah, no, look, that's a perfectly fair question. And I point you back to this letter that we received in the autumn. I said, I think, I can't remember how many. Well over 200 of the country's leading businesses, the BCC signed it as well. And they wrote to us and they said, look, the single, these were their words, most transformative thing you could do to drive investment in growth and jobs and actually ease our transition to net zero was to implement this tax cut, which is called full-expensing, which has a slightly technical name, but what does it mean? It means every time a business invests a pound and expanding its manufacturing company or growing its plant machinery, transitioning to net zero, it can take that pound off its tax bill. So it's really generous. No other big economy in the world does that on a permanent basis. So combined with our local operation tax rate, those two things make this a really attractive place for businesses to invest and to expand. And it is permanent and you can now plan with certainty. I did it temporarily as chancellor, but couldn't afford to do it permanently then. And now the chancellor has been able to say, this is permanent, it's here to stay. And I think that is really exciting and you're starting to see it from the announcements I said. Look, on net zero, yes, I'm going to be honest, there was a change, right? I did make a change, but I think that's the right thing to do because we were on a path where there was this ideological push to get there as quickly as possible without any concern for the costs that was going to have on you and your families. And I didn't think that was right. We've already decarbonized faster than any other major economy in the world. Fact. We've got more ambitious targets than any other advanced economy in the world. Fact. And we can still meet those targets without having to impose these costs on you, prematurely telling you to switch your car, rip out your boiler, upgrade the efficiency in your home. Now look, we're going to help you do some of those things. And if you're interested in it, there's a seven and a half thousand pound grant for someone who is and that is going to help. But fundamentally, I think we need to take a pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach to net zero to ease the burden on all your families. And we're still going to get there. And we're going to get there quite frankly, faster than everyone else. Now look, that was a big decision I made and I got a lot of criticism for it, but I genuinely believe it is a right thing for our country and that has meant a change. But now that we've got the tax cut, we've set out all the plans, we're investing in our energy security, more nuclear, more renewable, small modular reactors, offshore wind, all of this, we can now have a path to get to net zero and grow energy security in this country and also reduce your bills and we should crack on and get it done now. But I know, I absolutely know that we will get there because that's what we want to do for our kids. We all want to leave them a healthier, cleaner planet and environment, but we can now do so in a way that saves you money as well. And that's what I think the right decision is. Right, okay, we've got the time right. Okay, so we have some time for a bunch of media questions. Can we start with ITV? I've got it. Thank you, Prime Minister. Carl Dinnan from ITV, what do you think it says that it's taken an ITV drama to get your government to refocus on the issue of the scandal of the post office? And don't you think after all this time it would now be a good idea to just quash all the remaining convictions? So first thing to say is this is an absolutely appalling miscarriage of justice. Many of you in this room would have watched the drama and congratulations to ITV for doing a superb job on it. And now these things obviously started a very long time ago and it's right that they're looked at properly. And the stories are appalling. People were treated absolutely appallingly, that's wrong and we should do everything we can to make it right. I would say that over the last few years my predecessors started the process of doing that, had the inquiry, actually as Chancellor I approved the compensation schemes for the first time which are now in the process of being paid out and over 100, almost 150 million pounds has been paid out to thousands of people. So people should know that we are on it and we want to make this right. The money's been set aside. Now what we are now looking at is how can we speed all of that up? Understandably, I very clear want to get that out the door as quickly as possible. There are legal processes that people have had to go through but the Justice Secretary today is meeting with the relevant ministers to see is there more we can do to speed up some of those processes but people should be rest assured the money is there. I approved it as Chancellor. There are three different compensation schemes and we will do everything we can to make this right for all the people affected. It's simply wrong what happened. They shouldn't have been treated like this and we should do everything we can to make it right for them. Right. Next, we've got someone from The Times. Thank you Prime Minister. Jerry Scott from The Times. You said in your opening remarks that the rebounds scheme was so important in which case why, as has been reported today, did you want to scrap it during your 2022 leadership bid and will you prove that you are committed to it by toughening up the bill when it comes back? So I didn't say that I was going to scrap it. I mean that's completely false. Right, of course I didn't. Right, I talked about this a bit yesterday on the telly. Right, at the time it came out when I was Chancellor, I rightly, on all of your behalf because ultimately when we spend money in government it's not my money, it's all of your money. What you need is your Chancellor to ask some probing questions of something. That's part of their job. It's to scrutinise money that's being spent on your behalf and of course that's what I did, right, as you would expect me to and quite frankly if I didn't do that you tell me I'm not doing a good job. And of course I did that but ultimately we funded the scheme because I believe in the scheme and I talked about in my remarks, we needed deterrent. The National Crime Agency says you needed deterrent. Of course you needed deterrent. People need to know that if they come here illegally they won't get to stay. So either can we return them back to their own country like Albania, where my new deal with Albania is working, we've returned 5,000 people to Albania and guess what? The number of people coming from Albania last year dropped by 90% tells you that it works and that's why we need Rwanda and that's why we've got the bill. Look and I'm confident that this bill will do the job. I've been working on it for months. It's the toughest piece of legislation that's ever been brought before Parliament to resolve this issue once and for all. I am absolutely determined to do what it takes to stop the boat. I've also said very clearly, look if people have bright ideas about how we can make this more effective whilst being compliant with our international obligations and retaining Rwanda's participation in the scheme which is important. We need to have someone to actually send people and of course I'm open to having those discussions. I've always said that but look, I have worked on it for a very long time so I'm confident that it is a good bill and it will do the job for us. The question really isn't for me actually. The question is for the Labour Party because if you believe this issue is an important one for our country then you have to believe that a deterrent is necessary and that means you need a scheme like Rwanda. So really the question for everyone else is why are they not supporting the Rwanda bill? Why are they not supporting the scheme? What's their plan to resolve this issue? Because there isn't a perfect answer. It's not an easy problem to solve but I've got a plan. I've got the numbers down by 35% already but I want to finish the job and that means getting this bill on the statute books up and running so we can have a functioning deterrent and everyone who is against that simply doesn't have a plan to solve this problem and I don't think that's right because it's a priority for you. It's a priority for a country and it's got to be us that decide who comes here. It can't be criminal gangs. That's just not right. Next. Right. LBC. Right and then we can see we're running out of time and get that right. Sorry, I'll speed up. LBC, right. So on the first one, candidate selection is done locally so local members in a given area will choose their candidate. That's how it works in our party. It's why when we say we believe in empowering people locally I really believe in that. That's how we do it in our party and same with all by elections. Right, of course I want to win all by elections and the message I would say to all the people in Wellingborough is the same as the message but I said to all of you today, we had a difficult year last year but we have made progress. Country's pointing in the right direction and the choice now is to stick with the plan because it is starting to deliver the long-term change that our country needs. We do not want to go back to square one and that's what the Labour Party and Kids Starmer offer. They don't have a plan for the country and that would just take us backwards when we're now, as I said, making progress and we can see that we are building that brighter future for our children and that's what I'm about. I want people to have peace of mind that that is what lies ahead of us and we can have a renewed sense of pride in our country. That's the message I would take to Wellingborough and everywhere else. On school admissions, we have had this issue through COVID and they haven't returned. That's not a good thing. There's lots of things that we're doing to improve that, I'll go into all the detail but attendance hubs are something that we've set up around the country to work with schools, talk to parents that we think may need a bit of extra support, use text messaging and other things preemptively because I think it is really important that children are in school and getting the education they need, the question we had at the beginning. I think it's the most important thing that I can do, quite frankly, for all of you in our country after making sure the economy is strong, is making sure that every young person in our country has a world-class education, has the skills and the opportunities that they need to succeed in life. That is perhaps the most transformational thing that any prime minister or politician can do. It's partly the reason I got into politics was to do that because that is how you change people's lives is by providing them with an amazing education. Obviously, if they're not actually at school, they can't get that and we should do everything we can to support families, to support kids, to be in school and then learning incredibly well. And again, one of the things I'm most proud of, I've got a lot of comments about 13 years and what have you had from 13 years of Conservative government? Well, I'll tell you one of the things I'm most proud of is what we've done in our schools. When we took over in 2010, we were languishing in all these international tables of how well our kids were doing at school and the ones that just came out a couple of weeks ago, we have marched right up there and our kids are the best readers in the Western world. And that is thanks to a Conservative government's reforms. Right, okay. And lastly, I am hurrying, sorry, I know we're late. Right, the express, there's someone here from the express. Thank you, Michael Norris from the Daily Express. Just to follow up on Jerry's question, how are you going to convince members of your own party that the bill isn't legally flawed and that it will stop the small boats? Well, I said I've been having these conversations for a while and then I said, I'm very open if people have got suggestions that will improve the effectiveness of the bill that maintain our compliance with legal obligations and keep Rwanda participating in the scheme. Of course I'm open to them, right? Why wouldn't I be? I want this bill to work as well as it can do, right? And that's how Parliament legislates, that's what we'll do and that's what we'll continue to do. But I am confident and comforted by the reaction to the bill from dozens of legal experts, former Supreme Court judges, leading lawyers, all of them have said that this bill will work, is effective, does limit any basis or significantly limits the basis for individual claims, right? That has been the consensus view of legal experts that this bill is incredibly tough, will deliver what we need and that's the deterrent that means if you come here illegally, you won't be able to stay and we'll be able to return you back. And as I said to the question before, it's not really a question for me because I'm supportive of this bill, my entire party is supportive of this bill, but to a person, every member of the Labour Party voted against it. So either you don't believe in stopping the votes or you don't have a plan to do so. That's the question for them because I want to stop the votes and I know that I've got a plan that's going to deliver that. Perfect, great. Thank you very much. Right. Thank you. Guys, thank you so much for having me, it's been a real pleasure to be here. Sara, thanks for having us. Guys, thank you again. I know we've got to go and see some of your youngsters, so let's go. I'm not going to put my boots on for that, I don't think. I look forward to it. It's been a real pleasure. Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you.


Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of our Pokemon VGC 2019 battle series I hope you all well had a great weekend. Thank you so much for tuning in I hope you're ready to go with some more Pokemon action today as you can see there's Monday and we have a new team to take forward this week on the channel and because We are moving into a new series next week, which is going to replace our daily battle series just for Temporarily until the season ends We will be having a bit more fun on the channel this week where I personally decide what team we play rather than you guys That are going to have the opportunity to decide going forward from next week when we start our road to rank roulette series Which is going to be hopefully a lot of fun and something you guys are really going to look forward to and get behind and get involved with and The little perks and little changes and rules and things that we've got involved with the whole series I think we'll keep it really fun and really fresh and just a lot of fun and entertainment going forward So I'm really looking forward to it. I'd love to hear your opinions on that going forward and Getting on to today's team. Obviously, we've got Lunala once again We've played Lunala the last couple of weeks on the channel But it's going to be a little bit different this week because we have went down a more retail wind route with Lunala the last couple of Weeks and we've got two teams to feature this week before we end up and go into our new series next week So the team today that we're going to be featuring is going to be Lunala Megamorwhile Mungas, Kyogre, Tabukoko and Incinero And it's really going to be a very trick room orientated team with the trick room set up in the Lunala You've got support options with that and Mungas for redirection there It's going to be also very good in trick room if we can get it in that situation Megamorwhile Obviously very slow mega Pokemon that loves trick room So if we can get that in trick room We've got the Kyogre support with the rain there to help it out Tabukoko going to be more of a faster variant and something we can utilize for the faster side of the team We've got hidden power water on it We've got life orbs so we can snipe those Primal Groudon's unexpectedly especially in the best of one format I feel like that can work quite well and it's got the quick pivot as well as we've got a slow pivot with that Incinero, Fakeout and Intimidate support there as well Team is always down in the description below There's a roll paste and a poker paste Try it out if you would like and if you do as always do let me know what your thoughts are on the team And then getting on to the second team that we'll play later in the week So today tomorrow and for one game on Wednesday to keep everything even We'll play this team and then moving on to Wednesday's episode The second part of Wednesday's episode we'll move over to this team And I need to give a big shout out to Fabian and big VGC who has provided me with this team I saw him playing with it, and I thought this is incredible. This team looks amazing So it takes a lot of boxes for what you guys have requested as well Keeps with the Lunala theme as well, and we've got mega low puny mega more while there We got Gastrodon as well that we've seen do so well the recent Japanese national championships and then Tabakoko and then the other side of the coin is Primal Groudon rather than Primal Kyogre So a really nice kind of reflection on both sides of the coin here with both of these teams But we're not gonna be kicking off with this team this week So we'll keep that one for later in the week keep that anticipation going and we'll kick off with this one today So as always guys if you do enjoy the sort of content Please remember to leave a like on the video do subscribe to the channel for more Pokemon content Which there will be a lot more of coming up in the future and also As always leave your comments down below we'll get some music on and we'll get started So information about the Rotorank roulette series that we'll be starting next week We'll be going up on the channel So do keep an eye out for that all information about it will be there and time for you to start nominating Those Pokemon that you would like to see featured in a crazy random team Spun and decided by a wheel of fortune will be going live either today or tomorrow So get those nominations coming in and we'll do the draw on Saturday Sunday time for the team for the following week and I will explain everything in the first episode as we kick off next week Which will be as I keep saying a lot of fun. I hope it's gonna be a lot of fun. I feel like it will be I feel like it gives us a little bit more a Bit of a freshen up in VGC because we've had and we're kind of coming to the close of the season now We've got like us Nats this weekend and then you've got the world championships obviously But aside from that we're kind of in limbo with we don't know what's happening next season So I feel like this is kind of something it's gonna give us a little bit more entertainment going forward And we'll be a lot of fun. We'll be a lot of laughs. I can assure you that but got a first opponent of the day So we'll hop straight into team preview More of that psychic span from last week, but this looks like oh it looks very familiar It's not exactly the same as David Parton's team that he won the Bristol regional Championships with but he does have a mock a merc roll this person and no tap a cock although and tap a lele there instead We've got dawn wings and a cross we've got tap a lele growl on incinerole mackerel and the Smiggle so what are we gonna do trick room here gonna be really good for us, especially a Kyoga. You can get Kyoga and In a trick room, it's gonna be good without weather up. I think that can do a lot of work I Probably feel like I want a moongah support more than anything. It feels a little bit clunky, but at the same time Having the redirection to allow us to get the trick room up around that micro that has pranks that has taunt That could be a little bit problematic could be good I'm a little bit wary about the smiggle as well And you know what I think tap a cock was probably the thing to bring here Lunala, let's bring Kyoga and Do we want more while here more as good outside of ground on So I'm gonna bring it. I'm gonna bring it. We're gonna lock in and do it Gonna bring the big guns to this first one today. I'm excited to use mega more while as well It's like one of my favorite megas. Obviously I had a lot of success with it in the 2014 season So I have a lot of love for it. You know, it took me to top it of world that yeah So I'll never leave that that mantle in my head anyway in my heart So it's nice to bring it back. It's the first time we've used it this season as well So I'm hoping with the road to ranked roulette series that we'll be able to throw it in a few more times That'll be that'll be a lot of fun. We're gonna seen a cross man We're gonna see sneagle come up my pond and so we've fallen into the trap the trap that we are gonna get locked Into where they can switch into up a layer of this first turn and Either go for an attack with dawn wings or they can go for spore into something and this is why I having Mean They like you to do fake out the type of cocoa definitely definitely an option here What do they just spoil I don't really I'm not too sure if we can go for I'll go for the trick room I'll go for the trick room and I'll go for the volt switch out onto been across my I Do feel like Lele comes in here though. This is the trap to be okay. We're gonna see it just to follow me I kind of don't mind This as long as our Lunala sticks around we'll take the smiggle down to its sash and we get a tail wind up I mean that that would be ideal really wouldn't it? We'll get more while it onto the field I don't want to bring Kyle gone yet because I want to wait until like brown on Comes in and then we can switch in disrupt their weather More else still gonna be the sloth thing in the field no matter what happens here We're gonna see the reversal of the trick room so my opponent trying to go for a cream as well. So that's interesting Yeah, so whether or not they kind of scouting that we're going for the trick room or not.   I don't mind May not though. We do get rid of the smiggle Gonna see a Z move.  I guess one thing that we could have potentially done was switched out Okay, so until Nala does pick up the knockout there bit of a shame We lose a little Nala so freely, but we do get the play rough into that slot and Wow, oh Crit I feel kind of bad for my opponent. What's that happening? Well, now we get to have a co-coin Depends what this ground on build is as well if it's a trick room build ground on then It's gonna be tap a lily. There's the ground on big bad ground on Hmm Psychic train activating Scott Lele Could we make the the cheeky play switching Kyle Garen hidden power water ground on I Feel like I Feel like I need to do it. I'm gonna just do it. Let's do it. Let's try Unless I'm getting confused with the trains. I don't think I am this shouldn't be scoffing I Do get all going so that's Obviously the weather was good. Yeah. Yeah, so we're not they should pick up the knockout life orbs Yes, Coco the ground on killer There we go, so we should be able to wrap this one up skills. What coming out not gonna really work Unfortunately and Coco we can just fall switch out and scald and we may see A forfeit here because things aren't looking too good for my opponent I mean the big thing in this match for us was there the critical hit on to the the dawnlings We play rough definitely wouldn't have picked the knockout there. I don't think so. So and I Don't feel a little bit bad for my opponent in that respect. It did kind of close the match up a lot easier for us I would have been interested to see without the crit how we would have been able to Maneuver around there and we're getting rid of the smeagol does open the door for us to suck a punch in things like that So and we might have been alright. It might have been a bit more difficult But who knows at least we've got that in power off I put it on there and thought are we ever gonna use this but first game in and we're getting going with it All right music music music music elite for elite for I really hope we've had lots of news with sword and shield over the last couple of weeks obviously because of the Direct and then e3. I really hope I did touch on it in my sword and shield kind of hope video for hopes That we we have a different set up to the elite for or an end game to become the champion of the region It would be amazing. We'll get into that more another time because we need to concentrate on this We've got an ex opponent. So looks like they've got a good team as well. So a hop straight over into team preview Okay, our next opponent is running an I Can't even talk. It's an XY team. I want to say x-ray for the for the most time, but it's x y Here we go a beltel and zonius then we've got spawncast or ferrathorn We've got the villain a villain has till wind rage powder does have things like powder as well You need to watch out for spore as well. No, it doesn't have sport has sleep powder though and then you're gonna have the mega of the team gonna be Gengar gonna have to watch out for that trapping from that side of things and Then lander's theory and wrapping things up with that intimidate support Compliments the XY kind of combination quite well Trick room here gonna be really good for us again. We do need to be a bit careful around that ferrathorn here So in center all really gonna be very strong in this matchup for us I do want to lead with it and I think I'll lead in center or and Lunala Do we want kaoka Geogra, I think we probably do more while it's gonna be amazing if we can get trick room set up here and Like yeah, and yeah, let's go kaoka I mean it could go on moongus, but it's not really offering too much outside of being able to put things to sleep So yeah, I think we'll be alright. I think we'll blow it out It's just getting around the beltel that does put on a lot of pressure to our Lunala, of course But with intimidate support and fake out support We might be able we might be alright to get around it So let's see how we get on with this one today It's nice seeing these variations of team and I think that's one of the beauties about the ultra series You know you see so much versatility there's so many variations of teams that are viable and combinations that work together But yeah, we're not gonna we're not gonna have all of these Pokemon going into sword and shield Which I've got my own opinions on I am gonna do some sword and shield and Like my opinions on on the announcements of the the national decks and stuff like that So I'll leave that for then rather than flood this video of it because we're gonna see Gengar any belt will come out from my opponent. I think There's nothing wrong with us going. I mean the only thing we've got to worry about is if this Gengar goes for Goes for taunt that would put us in a bad position going into the next game But then we're not in the worst position because if we do Get trapped in you know, there's one of the Pokemon that we can switch out So I feel all right going for the trick room here and fake out into the about all although We could see a taunt and that's something we are conscious of we we do know it's kind of risky taunting into a Lunala as well and Gengar's not in the best of positions here So there's a fake out do we see the taunt? substitute well I don't mind that I told really No, okay Right, we do need to get a little out of here 100% I'm gonna snarl I know one get rid of the Gengar sub What do I snarl do is does the Gengar attack you? The gangers gotta be wary because we could potentially you turn as well Our opponent our opponent has disconnected.  Whatever happens there because our opponent Had connectivity issues, which is a little bit sad, but that does mean we're gonna get another game today. I Guess that game doesn't really count as it but it does give us more time to talk about sword and shield stuff So yes, I am planning on doing some content on sword and shield I really want to do a lot of content in the lead-up to sword and shield and my opinions my thoughts my theories and things like that on stuff So, um, obviously with stuff going on at the minute I haven't really had the time to do it But I feel like in the next couple of weeks, especially once we get caught up with the flinch squad circuit Then we're gonna be able to do that sort of content and I will definitely I'd love to just give my opinions on on some of the decisions that have been made especially the announcement to E3 and Just the the direct that we had some of the new Pokemon that we've got that look Really cool And just kind of yeah, and we can delve into some theory and what stuff's gonna be like as well Got lemon cello again from Italy My man my man, so we play this guy. I think last week On the channel, or maybe the week before but very cool user name Obviously went into a lot of details about my my thoughts on lemon cello and Johnny kind of you said that he's gonna provide me with some Authentic Italian lemon cello to change my mind in it. So I look forward to that But we'll get into team preview and we'll look at this team because it's kind of similar to ours We've got dual primals though, which is really really nice You're gonna see tap cocoa the Persian a lot of Persian they're gonna have Chris earlier Gonna be the main trick room setter of the team's trick room gonna be probably the thing that my opponent goes for I see wind potentially on the Chris earlier as well You're gonna have ground on and Kyoga and then that mega mall is the big hairs of the team. So What are we gonna do? About it. Um, okay Persian Can't really do too much to stop Lunala setting the trick room up We do have to be a bit careful about that type of cocoa coming out. I do want incinero. I think I definitely want Kyoga Do I want a moongus here though a moongus could be potentially quite good in this matchup Mega more while it's gonna be good as well It's just dealing with the opposing Kyoga that that's my biggest qualm. I think Maybe why I don't want to bring more while to this matchup. Although more well be really good and ground on Yeah, let's go with more while At the end of the day, this is our last week playing like serious serious serious That's not mega serious, but we're playing semi serious. So why not let's have a little bit of fun with it I think the they moongus could have been very good in this match Because if you look at a lot of what my opponents attacks are like outside of the Kyoga and the ground on the Threatening attacks that you would see from their side of the field or single targets. So that redirection support there would be extremely useful Okay, so we're gonna see Persian and Kyoga come out. I think one thing that we've got It's a little bit tricky going into this first turn is The Persian just fakes out our incinero and then count free what water spa Which isn't which isn't ideal so we could potentially switch into our Kyoga and why God We're not getting any kind of Progress with our Do I stay in in snarl in case they attack into the moon? Because I could potentially just trade fake out here, but I don't think you do I think you fake out incinero And I think you what's about? although You may not you may not so Okay, we're just gonna see the Kyoga protect. We could have got a free trick room off here if we don't see a taunt Yeah, there's a taunt, okay And we definitely see a double up from the Kyoga I think Into the Lunala just gonna have to I think Now we either attack into The Kyoga with Azimov which we should be able to we cannot speed it and then switch into our own Kyoga But that takes away our trick room option for this game But I need to try and preserve incinero. I think at this point It cut a losses a little bit Yeah, so even the trick gone trick room there wouldn't have wouldn't have happened so It's just all about if we can outspeed the Kyoga if we can because we're gonna get a shot She'll broken by the Persian and then hopefully we can get some decent damage onto this Kyoga To potentially take the next attack if they go for a water start, but if Kyoga's faster and we see file play We're just gonna see a parting shot. Okay That's not as bad as it could be Honestly, I grabbed on maybe good ground on definitely doesn't come in now You just totally throw your whole weather out the window and Take away any ability to hit Lunala. So yeah, the Chris earlier coming in Fine We do add speed to Kyoga. I'd love to think my opponent will probably go out into the Kyoga here, so After parting shot I'm doing too much damage, but doing enough. I think origin pulse coming out Okay, that's not the end of the world. We know we're faster than Kyoga. So We can go For water spout and I mean guys beam into that Chris area slot Just leave the opposing Kyoga open, but I mean Still going to do a lot of damage to the crest It's just whether or not that ground on comes in on the Kyoga slot Which is kind of what I was about to say before going to busy move there rudely cut off by that animation Um, and I think that's what we're gonna see Yeah, Chris Ellis Rick set up trick room now, but I don't mind this I really don't mind if they do set up trick room now I really don't mind at all. It's gonna wear off at some point as well potentially the end of this turn which gives us access to wide guard again And we'll still get some decent damage onto this Chris earlier with me guys beam And offensively it's not really threatening too much. Okay. Yeah, that's fine. I see wind Huh, okay Now if we can maneuver our incineroar onto the field now when our taunt does wear off They're gonna wear off No, it's not one off just yet. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah, we can't we can't bring more welling. I mean we Could we do what could we do? We need to preserve your collar. I think this point But then if the Persian comes in it's no good Uh It's way up our options. Maybe we could start getting damage onto The ground on here go from you guys beam and just switch into incineroar Get it down to minus one And then potentially we've got fake out trick room the next turn We maybe call our opponent's bluff because that Chris Ellis definitely got trick room It would have just been better if we'd have wide guard here. We can wide guard and see that's the problem But if they're relying on precipice blades, we know what can miss so It doesn't is time I have a both actually take it so that's that's good for us and our taunt definitely wears off this next turn Yeah, there's the taunt wearing off. So we've got the fake out this next turn. Um Now do we call my opponent's bluff by going from ingress beam into the crest? Going for fake out into the ground on I'm really kind of throwing here if they don't trick room, but I'm I'm banking on them trick room into reverse our trick room Because at this point we kind of need trick room up To allow more while to kind of come in and do some work um And they know we're gonna fake out the ground on that. I think that's like a given Just if you don't see the trick room that could be a little bit more difficult for us There is a lot. There's logic behind my madness here. There is but we're banking on it's never really that great Relying on your opponent to kind of make that exact play There's the fake out No, we're not gonna see it. Oh Oh, dear Okay, well, this isn't it's not the end of the world We have a pretty free switch into kayoga now Um, and whether or not my opponent actually picks up on that because we we are gonna wide guard and we're just gonna switch in kayoga Whether or not my opponent picks up on this or not and switches out their ground on and it just it's from their side of the field Is another thing. I don't know but if they keep the ground on in And the chrysalis are on the field And then this next turn we end up with a ball position of lunala kayoga I think we're in a pretty good position to start doing some decent damages next turn because I think one of the things we can potentially do that next turn is go waterspout in trick room because you Kind of then prepping for the Persian coming onto the field with the kayoga Um, and it gives you that free turn to set the trick room at what one you want and potentially You could do if we're really feeling ballsy about it is switch to kayoga at that time. We do trick room And get more while on to the field and then we've got more well under a trick room Yeah, and the kayoga in the back. Yeah so And this is a turn i'm talking about this is where I think we could potentially trick room and um Switch more while in But whether or not it's worth it whether or not we just go for a waterspout Why we've got the opportunity to because we're in a good position now to get rid of the chrysalis Um, do some hefty damage to that Persian if it does come in and also get some decent chip damage On to the the kayoga because we know it's going to come in on the ground onslaught. Oh, it's actually not It's interesting We're gonna get rid of this chrysalis And we know the cut the opposing kayoga has got origin pulse waterspout. I don't imagine it has waterspout It's probably got ice beam Or they could have thunder as well can't discount that and I can't remember from the previous match we played against a guy He had the exact same team If that's what he went for Uh, the Persian coming on to the field now, obviously can't We can just wide guard waterspout How do we wide guard and switch into more? I think we switch into more here. Yeah That was kind of because I think the opposing coyota hits the field now If that grad on stays in it goes press this blade if anything I think because it got a lot of firepower and Yeah, there's a grad on switch. We'll probably see a foul play from the Persian into The lunala it might not fake out. You know Well, oh, there's a fake out. Yeah trying to stop the kayoga this time, but it's not going to really work um Things are freezing. I hope but it's not affecting the recording here. So um I think what we'll do is we'll go out with lunala. I'll bring in our own kayoga and i'm gonna go Do I do I just attack the Persian and just wide guard? I think i'm just gonna wide guard And i'm gonna go for a play rough make a roll play rough into the Persian here Because with origin pulse, I just don't think the kayoga's got a way to like Really heavily damage them all while could have ice beam and it's got to go for it into the lunala this turn Persian doesn't and hardly ever carries protect Like very rarely. So I think the play rough into this slot. It's pretty pretty reliable Yeah, there's a protect from the kayoga I'm gonna get rid of the Persian There's no way Persian ever takes this in the million years And then the next turn when the ground on comes in Uh I think we play rough the kayoga We switch lunala route for our kayoga to get the rain back up because I feel like the ground on goes fire punch into the More while we should pick up the knockout onto the kayoga With our more while And then we'll be able to wrap things up quite easy with a kayoga He says so this is what we'll do We'll switch out lunala into kayoga get that rain back up like I say we'll play rough into the Kayoga and I think the ground on here doesn't press with blades because of the wide guard I think he goes fire punch and it's likely into the more while and if it does that then we catch him with that Without whether coming back in and we should like I say pick up the knockout onto kayoga with play rough from this point All going well, of course So let's see what my opponent does. They might just mind read me down. Just see right through this play But you never know So lunala coming out Okay, I'll get over right this rain Oh, right over right the rain with the rain over right the sun. I should be saying Come on think think before you speak play rough does connect. This is a good more while clever more Ticks on the kayoga taking advantage of that trickering turns. Oh my opponent reached through that very nicely Okay, going for the press with blades. We get a bit lucky there with our kayoga More out. Unfortunately, we'll go down now So that was a nice play there for my opponent. We could have just stayed in wide guarded Um, but now I think we like we completely 100 uncharacter garrically lock this game with wide guard um With the rain out on the field. This is something I used to like do in 2016 I used to kind of set up this board position like this Um with my car I got him on top because I had the wide guard Um, and as long as I could wide guard and the rain was up, there was no way to pose and grab on unless the car like Rock slide could could hit us. So um And you kind of just sealed the game from this point We're just going to see a protect from the guard on maybe just stalling out the trick room here Um scouting out what we've got potentially as well We're revealing that skull the trick room does end but not really going to matter too much now And we do a wide guard And then we will scald and that should be game Lemme chill out Come on my friend There we go. There's the wide guard now Locking those horrible pressivist blades See the ground and does that speed up. I'll get Matruody here from the trip he turns anyway And there's a skull and this would be more than enough to pick up their knockout and lock the game for us And very good game to a very good opponent once again And that will be the end of this episode guys. So I really hope you've enjoyed today's episode I hope you're looking forward to the rest of the week Obviously the two variations of lunala that we'll be playing it'll be great to hear opinions on both variants We'll see just a big shout out to fabian again and keep your eyes peeled on the channel for information about that road To ranked roulette series that we'll be starting next week I would really love to hear your opinions on that and what you think about and what your thoughts are dropping The the kind of the the daily battle series replacing with that it's kind of going to be the same thing So we're going to be playing on the battle spot. Anyway, it's going to be road to ranked But we're just making it a bit harder for ourselves by having just random pokemon that are nominated by you guys and I think at the same time by doing that It's going to really kind of open up the creativity door with how we're going to Try and put these random six pokemon that have come out on a wheel of fortune together on a roulette And try and make them work on the on the battle spot ladder and see how far we can get And the gimmicks are going to be for real the memes will be real And I think just having that interaction between Myself and you guys is going to be what really does appeal and it's going to be a lot of laughs Like I've said, I think it's going to be really funny And we'll we'll make sure we capture reactions and stuff like that to stuff because I think it'll be a really good series And a lot of fun and something if it is successful We'll do every year at the end of every vgc season to take us into that new one So thank you so much for tuning in guys. Have a great rest of your day Whatever you're up to I will see you all for the next one And thank you so much again for all your support comments and everything like that and just make sure you have a great day Whatever you're up to so until the next one. Bye. Bye