Afternoon Briefing Friday 11th July

0:00This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwCWC. Staying competitive means getting ahead, not just keeping up. So how do business leaders cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. PwC takes you further with tech, from optimising the systems that put your data to work, to scaling AI from proof of concept to competitive edge. PwC helps you meet tomorrow's tech demands so you can compete at a speed that rewrites the rules. Discover more at pwc.co.uk. Hello, this is your Times Afternoon Briefing for Friday the 11th of July with me, James Kitchen. The Home Secretary has refused to confirm the number of small boat migrants who would be returned to France under a new one-in-one-out deal.

0:45It's feared there are likely to be significant legal challenges to the plan agreed by Sakhir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron during the French president's state visit. The agreement also requires the legal verification of the European Commission and member states, some of which have already raised objections. Speaking to Times Radio Breakfast, Yvette Cooper insisted the deal was groundbreaking, but said she couldn't offer grand promises on the numbers involved. We're not setting ultimate numbers on this. It is a pilot. we of course need to develop it and we need to develop the different aspects of the pilot scheme but from the start we have to recognise is what the smuggler gangs do is they tell people if you travel to the UK you cannot be returned to anywhere else in Europe.

1:28What we're able to do now is to be able to fundamentally undermine that and so yes of course we want to develop it we will want to extend it but we are clear look this is a pilot. The chancellors called the latest GDP figures disappointing after they showed a dip for a second month in a row. Economic output fell by 0.1 % in May, but Rachel Reeves says she's determined to kickstart growth. Danny Hewson is head of financial analysis at AJ Bell. A lot of it down to retail. We've spoken about the fact that people haven't been out and spending money so much in May because they brought forward a lot of spend in April because we had all of that good weather.

2:05Production, manufacturing, that has also played a big part in this fall, this time, because, of course, with Donald Trump's tariffs, a lot of manufacturers brought forward the production of goods that they could send over to the United States in a bid to beat the introduction of those tariffs. Doctors in England will be encouraged to refer patients to the gym or to job coaches rather than signing them off as not fit for work. The Health Secretary, Wes Streetings, told The Times the economy can no longer afford to keep writing people off through sick notes. Her pilot program is being trialled across 15 locations, with GPs allocated funding to employ dedicated teams to help patients find employment.

2:46Meanwhile, the IVF pioneer Professor Robert Winston has resigned from the British Medical Association, warning that highly dangerous strikes will damage public trust in doctors. Lord Winston, who's been a member of the trade union since 1964, says its current leadership provides a poor example to aspiring medics. Earlier this week, the BMA's wing of resident doctors announced a five-day strike at the end of July. They're demanding a 29 % pay rise. Speaking to Times Radio, Lord Winston accused the BMA of manipulation. There is no question that doctors are undervalued. On the other hand, in terms of what they've just done immediately after qualifying, they're not that badly paid.

3:25And I think it's very important to point out that the pay structure increases pretty rapidly as you advance. It is a profession which is essentially a caring profession. We have a unique responsibility to people. People in front of us are vulnerable. It's very easy to manipulate them as a doctor. This is a form of manipulation. And there's a warning heat-related deaths in England and Wales could rise 50-fold by the 2070s as climate change collides with an ageing population. Scientists say tens of thousands of people might die during hot weather in the coming decades. It comes as areas of the UK face another heat wave, with temperatures over the next few days forecast to be above average and exceed 30 degrees Celsius for many.

4:08And remember, you can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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