Afternoon briefing Thursday 21st May

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 the Times Radio afternoon briefing on Thursday the 21st of May. Net migration nearly halved last year, falling to 171 ,000 people.

0:44Excluding the pandemic, that's the lowest figure since 2012. That number is calculated by taking the number of people who entered the country, then subtracting the number who left. The Times data editor Tom Calver explains why it's down. The biggest factor is a fall in work-related visas, according to the ONS. Study visas remain pretty steady. But I think it's also worth saying that emigration has been rising too. And it's interesting, it's not necessarily what you think. There's a lot of stories about British emigrants and are people fleeing Britain. Actually, it seems to be a rise in non-EU nationals.

1:18In 2023, net migration hit a peak of 944 ,000. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says real progress is being made. Newly released files reveal the late Queen was very keen for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to take on a prominent role in the promotion of the national interest. That line is included in a memo about the former Duke of York being appointed a trade envoy. He faces accusations of sharing sensitive information with Jeffrey Epstein, which he denies. West Streeting is promising to equalise capital gains tax with income tax if he becomes Labour leader and Prime Minister. The former health secretary says that would raise£12 billion a year, even with an allowance to only tax gains above inflation.

1:58Times Radio's political editor Anna Mihailova says he's trying to move the leadership discussion onto policy. I think he's seeing a gap in what is going on with Makerfield and Andy Burnham, who is making the whole campaign very, very local. And I think what West Streeting is trying to do is set some markers down to move the discussion of policy and where the Labour Party might actually shift. The Conservatives have called it sit-form political nonsense. The Cabinet ministers told Times Radio the government is managing the economy in softening planned sanctions on Russia. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby, insists people should trust the government when it says that it will eventually ban jet fuel and diesel products made from Russian oil.

2:40So we've said and we've been clear that these are going to be short-term licences. They'll be in place for months. Importantly, they're going to be reviewed very regularly. But the key thing here is understanding that licences are a normal and quite an important part of how the sanctions regime works. Government guidance says ministers will endeavour to give four months notice if they plan to change those licences. EasyJet is warning summer holiday bookings are behind where they usually are after posting its worst first-half performance outside of the pandemic. The budget airline lost£552 million.

3:14Airlines do typically lose money over winter, but that loss is£150 million greater than it was last year. And the FA will investigate Southampton over the Spygate scandal. The club has lost its appeal against being thrown out of the Championship play-off final after admitting spying on opponents in training. It means Middlesbrough, who they beat in the semis, will take on Hull this weekend for a lucrative place in the Premier League. Don't forget to subscribe to the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio online.

3:46This 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

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