Afternoon briefing Friday 26th September

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. Welcome to the Times Afternoon Briefing on Friday the 26th of September. The Prime Minister has formally announced a new policy to help control illegal immigration.

0:42This government will make a new free-of-charge digital ID mandatory for the right to work by the end of this Parliament. Let me spell that out. You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID. It's as simple as that. He also argues the cards will make it easier to access public services. The UK population is estimated to have grown by three-quarters of a million in the year to June 2024. It's the second highest annual increase in 75 years. Times Radio's Tom Noonan has more details. The Office for National Statistics estimates the population grew by 755 ,254 people, a 1.1 % rise on June 2023 to 69.3 million in total.

1:33As a numerical rise, that was beaten only by the year before, from mid-2022 to mid-2023. 98 % of the rise came from net migration. The rest was from natural change. There were 16 ,000 more births than deaths. Major new polling suggests Nigel Farage would become Prime Minister if a general election were held tomorrow, although it would be a hung Parliament. You Gov is forecasting Reform UK would win 311 of the 650 seats, while the Conservatives would keep just 45. Times Radio's Adam Bolton says the results present an interesting picture. Reform is getting 311 MPs, which is almost half Parliament, with only 27 % of the vote.

2:18And this really is the way that politics works when you have a first-past-the-post system designed really for a two-horse race, but you've actually got six parties running. And former director of the FBI James Comey has been charged with obstruction of justice and making a false statement to Congress. He was sacked months into Donald Trump's first presidency. It happened in the middle of an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump and his supporters said the investigation was a hoax and a witch hunt. Comey has made a statement on Instagram. My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump.

3:00But we couldn't imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees. And you shouldn't either. Somebody that I love dearly recently said that fear is the tool of a tyrant. And she's right. But I'm not afraid. And I hope you're not either. And you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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