Afternoon Briefing Tuesday 31st March

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 31st of March. The British Medical Association has told Times Radio a new strike by junior doctors due to begin next Tuesday is not inevitable.

0:47Sikir Starmer is threatening to withdraw thousands of speciality training places if the stoppage is not called off within 48 hours. The union has rejected a pay rise of up to 7.1 % this year without putting it to members but says it's keen to attend fresh talks. Dr Jack Fletcher, who chairs the BMA's Resident Doctors' Committee, says a previous offer put to members in December was overwhelmingly rejected. The government and the colleagues in the media were convinced that it was going to be accepted and it was emphatically rejected. We had a 65 % turnout and 83 % of residents reject it. Just as we'd been telling the government and therefore we've not put this to members because we don't think it's a good deal on pay.

1:26I've said that to the health secretary last week, and that is why we haven't put this to members. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war in Iran is definitely beyond the halfway point. But he's also told US broadcaster Newsmax that halfway refers to the number of missions and not necessarily the amount of time. He says Iran's capabilities have been severely depleted. It really degraded this regime, really hit them very hard, hit the IRGC, like killed thousands of these stormtroopers. killed their leaders who were spouting this death to America doctrine, really knocked out a good chunk of their, not a good chunk close to finishing their arms industry, just the whole industrial base.

2:11Talks on a new£650 million deal with France to stop small boats crossing the Channel are deadlocked because the French are rejecting British demands for payments by results. The UK, meanwhile, has rejected a demand to pay the salaries of people staffing a new migrant detention centre in northern France. Patricia Shannon, a former MEP for France's right-wing National Rally Party, has told Times Radio that British politicians should take a tougher stance. They need to say any illegal migrant in the UK that's found in the UK is going to be sent back and cannot come back to the UK. If the UK accepts illegal migrants or legalises them or gives them work permits, of course this is going to encourage other people to come.

2:52And millions of drivers who are missold car finance could be in line for compensation of about£830 under plans set out by the Financial Conduct Authority. About 12 million agreements could qualify. More details from Times Radio's business correspondent, Dominic O 'Connell. So the idea of this scheme is that you can apply to it yourself and don't have to employ a claims firm or anything like that. But the onus is on the lenders to contact you. in that a lot of mistakes could happen. You might have moved address. They might have lost your records. You might have lost your records as well. So I think probably worthwhile going on the FCA website and just seeing if you do have a claim.

3:26And you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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