Afternoon briefing Tuesday 21st 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. Welcome to the Times Radio afternoon briefing for Tuesday the 21st of July. A former cabinet minister says Andy Burnham's first policy on the cost of living is unfunded.

0:44The new prime minister says he will remove the 5 % VAT currently added to electricity bills from the start of October. He says he will find the money by scrapping the digital ID scheme. But Darren Jones says the money was never identified. The former head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, has told Times Radio this is a bit of a disaster. It's a very poor way to start government by saying that you're going to fund something by something that doesn't exist in the first place. And it's also, I think, quite worrying. I mean, it's not a particularly sensible policy. It's quite expensive over a full year, getting on for two billion.

1:19Of course, it's very poorly targeted. Someone who's in a big house using lots of electricity will get a bigger gain than someone on very low income who doesn't use very much. A Russian warship has carried out a live fire military exercise about 45 miles off the UK coast. The ship, which was shadowed by a Royal Navy vessel, carried out the manoeuvre south of Plymouth yesterday. The MOD says it's continuing to track the vessel's activity closely. Lord Dannett, the former head of the British Army, has told Times Radio this was timed to coincide with the change of Prime Minister. Well, I think it's not by accident.

1:55I'm sure it's by design. I think it's another illustration of the aggressive instincts shown by Vladimir Putin, of course, most clearly demonstrated by his attack on Ukraine. But he wants to demonstrate that Russia's got muscles that it can flex. And it's not entirely by happenstance that that Russian warship chose to carry out a live fire exercise on the same day that Andy Vernon became prime minister. Well, Danat also says he's disappointed that West Streeting's been appointed Defence Secretary and says he wanted Dan Jarvis to remain in the job. The new Cabinet has met this morning. Andy Burnham has sacked ten ministers loyal to Sir Keir Starmer.

2:35The Times' political editor Stephen Swinford says there could be a lot of bitterness in the Labour Party. That is obviously Andy Burnham's choice, but I think the extent of the purge, This was a reshuffle that ultimately rewarded those that had revolted against Starmer. And those that were loyal to Starmer all got killed. And that's not surprising, but it was supposed to be, we thought, a broad church. We assume by the definition, broad church didn't just refer to political spectrum, where people were on that, but also to possible Starmer allies keeping jobs. But no, all of the core ones lost their jobs.

3:08And Spain's World Cup team have celebrated their victory with a huge party in Madrid.

3:19They were cheered by almost two million fans during their victory parade as they showed off the famous trophy. They were also received by the Spanish royal family and by the Prime Minister. You can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and list live to Times Radio online. This 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.

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