Afternoon briefing Thursday 26th June

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1:22This is the Times Afternoon Briefing on Thursday 26th June. Sir Keir Starmer is expected to speak to rebellious backbenchers later to try to win their support for cuts to disability benefits. The Prime Minister's opened the door to concessions after more than 120 Labour MPs suggested that they'd vote against the plan. Minister Douglas Alexander told Times Radio next Tuesday's vote will go ahead as planned now. Well, Andrew Rayner made clear at the dispatch box in the Commons yesterday that the vote will proceed. But you're right to recognise that there will be conversations. If 120 of your colleagues sign a reasoned amendment, then of course there's going to be conversations.

2:00It's right that the government is listening. And it's right also that the government is engaging directly with many people across the Labour Party. The Times' political editor Stephen Swinford explains what changes the government might make now. It looks like they might move around the eligibility criteria for disability benefits, so basically more people can claim the benefits. There's also talk of possibly looking at cuts that were made to the health element of universal credit, which is another benefit. But either way, whatever way you look at it, having said categorically, there will be no U-turns on Monday.

2:33That was Rachel Reeves. We now appear to be in some kind of U-turn territory. A new seat-by-seat poll suggests Reform UK would be the largest party if an election was held tomorrow. YouGov's first MRP poll since last year's election predicts a hung parliament, with reform on 271 seats and Labour falling back to 178. It thinks the Conservatives would get just 46 seats, putting them fourth behind the Lib Dems. Shadow Cabinet Minister Andrew Griffith told Times Radio he is not surprised. You know, we're only 10 months after an election that was undoubtedly catastrophic for our party. We've got still a lot of work to do.

3:12It seems to me it puts a premium on the sort of thing that Kemi and I and others are doing, which is having those really honest conversations about the need for reform, admitting places where we didn't get things right, and coming up with credible plans, not just political soundbites. New Gov's MRP polling just before the election slightly overstated Labour's win and underestimated the Conservatives. New government statistics show the backlog of Crown Court cases in England and Wales is at a record high. The caseload now sits at 77 ,000, up 11 % on last year. The government estimates the backlog will hit 100 ,000 by autumn 2027.

3:55The dollar has fallen to a three-year low against a basket of currencies after Donald Trump criticised the head of the Federal Reserve. The president says Jerome Powell is terrible, and the Wall Street Journal reports that he could replace the Fed chair as soon as September. An amber heat health alert has been issued for parts of England tomorrow, with temperatures set to reach 30 degrees. It covers the East Midlands and the south of England. And Amazon have hired Denis Villeneuve to direct the next James Bond film, The four-time Oscar nominee has had box office success with sci-fi movies like the recent Dune franchise, Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival.

4:32We still don't know, though, who will play Bond himself. Don't forget to subscribe to The Times News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio Online.

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