Afternoon Briefing Thursday 17th 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 Thursday 17th July with me, James Kitchen. 16 and 17-year-olds in the UK are to be given the right to vote in general elections, something already the case in devolved polls in Scotland and Wales.

0:48Governments also reveal bank cards are to be considered a form of voter ID, as well as what it calls common-sense changes to move towards an automated electoral registration system. New rules around donations have been announced too. One of the four MPs suspended from Labour for persistent breaches of party discipline says she remains loyal to the Prime Minister. Rachel Maskell will sit as an independent in the Commons after she voted against the government's welfare reform bill. Brian Leishman, Neil Duncan Jordan and Chris Hinchliffe have also had the whip removed. Speaking to Times Radio, Tony Blair's former political secretary, John McTernan, accused the PM of bullying behaviour, calling the suspensions crass and petty.

1:28If you're going to punish people, why not make Hilder, who organised the rebellion, who wrote the reasoned amendment, who was on the media all over the period, Why not the other select committee chairs? And the answer is the government isn't strong enough to lift the whip from select committee chairs who are well respected by their colleagues. And that's the difficulty is that you're picking people who you believe you can pick on. And that's bullying, that's not discipline. Meanwhile, Labour is expected to suspend the veteran left-wing MP Diane Abbott for doubling down on claims that Jews experience racism differently from black people.

2:03The Reform MP Sarah Pochin has repeated claims made by Nigel Farage that convicted sex offenders are among those secretly airlifted to the UK. The party's leader alleged that the rescue of almost 20 ,000 Afghans is a risk to women's safety in Britain. Speaking to Times Radio, Sarah Pochin failed to provide any evidence for the claim. Eight people have been injured, two of them critically, after an Israeli airstrike this morning on the only Catholic church in Gaza. The late Pope Francis was said to be in close contact with the Holy Family Church before his death. Israel's yet to comment, but Italy's Prime Minister has called the strike unacceptable.

2:41The Health Secretary West Streeting is holding talks aimed at avoiding strike action by resident doctors in England. A five-day walkout by members of the British Medical Association is scheduled to start from next Friday. The union's calling for a 29.2 % pay rise. The CEO of the East Suffolk and North Essex Hospital Trust, Nick Hume, told Times Radio there's been a shift in attitude among NHS colleagues. Previously there was sympathy for all the industrial action, whether it was the nurses, the consultants or indeed the resident doctors who took strike action last year and the year before. This year I think the feeling is slightly different.

3:15Some staff are reporting to me a sense of frustration. As they see it, they think that the residents, it's their view, got a reasonable deal in the past. and what they've been offered this year is more than many other clinical groups. And Sir Keir Starmer will host his German counterpart at Downing Street later in what's likely to be a landmark meeting between the two leaders. They're expected to sign a new bilateral treaty focusing on smuggling gangs, expanded defence exports and closer industrial ties between the two nations. It's Chancellor Friedrich Merz's first official visit to the UK. And remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

3:56This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. AI is everywhere. In the news, in our hands, but return on investment, not so much. So how do you get beyond the hype and deliver AI that powers reinvention and growth across your business? Strong foundations unlock AI's potential. That's why PwC takes you further with tech, strengthening the data quality, processes and workflows that shape how well AI performs. PwC turns innovation into implementation so you can accelerate from experiment to scale. Discover more at pwc.co.uk. Thumbtack presents Uncertainty Strikes. I was surrounded.

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