Afternoon briefing Thursday 23rd 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. This is your Times Radio news briefing for the afternoon of Thursday 23rd July. Kemi Baisenok said Andy Burnham's announcements this week have not been ambitious enough.

0:44The Prime Minister said he wants to end rough sleeping, reduce electricity bills, cap bus fares and reduce business rates. Responding to these policies, the Conservative Party leader criticised him for not being clear about how these will be paid for. Someone will pay, and they will pay in higher taxes. Andy Burnham needs to tell us who will pay for those taxes. And if he won't, we should assume it will be the same people Labour always turn to when the sums don't add up. Working people, small businesses. The government says all policies are fully funded, including money moved from the Department for Energy and a planned crackdown on unpaid VAT by online retailers and removing tax reliefs for vape shops.

1:31Don Dunn is Director General of the UK Vaping Industry Association and told Times Radio he isn't happy. This is just another raft of idiotic ideas from this government that target an industry that's saving lives. Vaping has been and is the most successful way that adult smokers quit smoking in this country. and instead of lauding that, instead of applauding that, this government is doing everything in their power to crush this industry. A man who planned a terror attack with his friend, who later went on a fatal knife rampage at Manchester Synagogue, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years.

2:10Mohammed Bashir planned an attack on a UK defence facility near Swindon, which has 4 ,000 people on site at any given time. Prison bosses say they need clarity over the plans to release some inmates early after Andy Burnham said yesterday that the scheme would be reviewed. Thousands of offenders were due to be let out from September, but specific cases have led to criticism of the plan. Jade Belgrove, who was raped when she was 14, told Times Radio that her abuser was given nine years but might serve three. It took everything in me to fight for my justice. I've fought through all my teenage years to get to the point where I am now and build a life for myself after what he has done to me.

2:49And then to be made to feel so little and this taken away is... I can't even begin to explain the trauma that it's causing me again. A group of 120 millionaires, including Richard Curtis, Gary Lineker and Val McDermott, have signed a letter calling on the Prime Minister to tax them more. They say we love this country and we want it to succeed, but success requires investment. The letter's organised by the campaign group Patriotic Millionaires. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Emma Reynolds, told Times Radio they can voluntarily pay more tax if they want to. Obviously, we want a fair taxation system.

3:27Fairness should run through everything that we do. There's a link on gov.uk. If people who are rich and are earning well want to pay more, then I would welcome that. As Chief Secretary of the Treasury, I'd be very pleased indeed. For more stories like this, listen throughout the day to Times Radio.

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