Afternoon briefing Friday 7th August

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. This is Times Radio's afternoon briefing on Friday 7th August. The government is accusing the Conservatives of creating a plan that would increase homelessness.

0:43They've announced a series of proposals designed to evict foreign nationals from social housing. It would mean any person who isn't a British, Irish or EU citizen would be expected to leave their home within six months. Labour's border security and asylum minister is Anna Turley. Some of these plans that seem to be a bit ill thought through will have that effect and further increase the numbers of people that are on the streets homeless. People who are claiming asylum don't have access to social housing. There's a discussion at the moment where we're trying to move people out of hotels into things like military bases, so people are monitored in terms of when they're going through their asylum claim where they're living.

1:18Nine out of ten homes at the moment, more than nine out of ten homes, are going to British families. The Conservatives have defended their plans, saying there is a limit to what can be spent. A local chief constable is warning that those involved in anti-immigration disorder in Thetford will face the full force of the law. Police officers were subjected to significant aggression in the market town in Norfolk on Wednesday, including one who was bitten. Two further arrests were made on Thursday following a third night of disorder. The Times reporter Herbie Russell is in Thetford. He says local grievances revolve around two key issues.

1:52People are genuinely worried about what they say are mostly men being moved into their local areas. And they feel there's been a lack of communication from the council about when they're being moved into their neighbourhoods, who these people are. And the second thing that comes up time and time again is about services and this perception that the asylum seekers who are housed here in Bedford are given a whole load of benefits, which local people don't have. At least seven people, including five school teachers, have died near Thailand's capital, Bangkok, following a shooting. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, allegedly shot his grandparents before going to school.

2:26He then shot himself and died on the way to hospital. An estimated one in five student loans are being given to non-British citizens amid concerns within the government that the scheme is open to fraud. The Times has learned that foreign students received about£4 billion last year in tuition fees and maintenance loans. Professor John Blake is the director of the Post 18 project, which campaigns for reform to make higher education more effective. He says the problem lies with those institutions that operate under a franchising system. The university itself doesn't teach them, it gives the right to teach them to another organisation who returns some money to the university but who takes responsibility for the students.

3:06And there's been very clear evidence the government is quite concerned about the way in which that is operating. There will be more delays and cancellations for rail passengers in the north of England and the Midlands for the rest of the day. While services have been largely restored after a 90-second power outage yesterday, people have been told to expect further disruption. and the England World Cup footballer Ivan Toney has been charged with assault causing actual bodily harm. It follows an incident at a nightclub in Soho last December. Toney, who plays his club football in Saudi Arabia, will appear before Westminster magistrates on the 24th of September.

3:42There's more on all of these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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