Afternoon briefing Thursday 23rd April

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 23rd of April. The top civil servant in the Cabinet Office has said the correct procedure was followed in Peter Mandelson's vetting.

0:44My view is that due process was followed. And if I might explain why I believe that, it is because the process, as I've outlined to the committee, is that UKSV make a recommendation and the Foreign Office make a decision as to whether to grant DV. That is the process and that is the process that is agreed with the Foreign Office. Kat Little is giving evidence to MPs after the former Foreign Office Chiefs Olly Robbins did the same. She refused to say though whether due process was followed when Sir Keir Starmer went against advice and announced Lord Maddelson as ambassador to Washington before he was vetted.

1:21Opposition parties want the Prime Minister investigated by the same committee which ended Boris Johnson's parliamentary career. The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage thinks he's misled Parliament. The untruths, you can't stand up and openly say that all the necessary procedures were followed and that Mandelson had been cleared, when clearly that's not the case at all. And my view is that he did mislead Parliament and he's lied to the country. And I think people can see it. Zakir Starmer insists the evidence given to MPs by Ollie Robbins has cleared him of that accusation. The border security minister has told Times Radio funding in a small boats deal with France will not be conditional on French police reducing crossings to a certain target.

2:04The deal will give half a billion pounds to the French government to fund a thousand officers along the coast and then another 160 million pounds is available if the new tactics are successful. But Alex Norris says he can't announce how that success will actually be measured. You know, these are new and novel products that we're not going to be advertising to the human traffickers as to what they look like. Each one of them will carry metrics as to whether or not they're succeeding and driving the change we want. If they are, we will carry them on. If they aren't, we will discontinue them. But I can't give you that kind of blow-by-blow account of that.

2:36The Conservatives argue it's a deal with no conditions. Borrowing fell to a four-year low in March thanks to a sharp decline in spending on debt interest. The government also brought in£100bn in tax revenues, up£5.4bn on last year. The head of the Council of Europe, which is responsible for the European Convention on Human Rights, has told Times Radio changing the convention is beside the point when it comes to tackling migration. The government has joined other European countries in calling for the ECHR to be adapted to reduce the legal challenges to deportation, and opposition parties like the Conservatives and Reform UK want it scrapped entirely.

3:13But the Secretary-General, Alain Berset, says that isn't necessary. We can reshape the convention, we can abandon the convention, it is possible to withdraw the convention, you decide. My point is to tell you clearly, this is not the point. This is not the point. And Prince Harry is in Kiev making an unannounced trip to Ukraine. He's speaking at a security conference, warning people not to lose focus on Russia's invasion. Don't forget you can subscribe to the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio Online.

3:50This 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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