Afternoon briefing Tuesday 8th 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 the Times Afternoon Briefing on Tuesday the 8th of July. Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in England.

0:44The British Medical Association says it could mean walkouts until January next year. They ended strike action almost a year ago after accepting a 22 % pay offer from the new Labour government. Emmanuel Macron has landed in the UK for a state visit as Sir Keir Starmer pushes him to agree a migrant returns deal. The one-in, one-out proposal would let the UK return people crossing the Channel on small boats in exchange for accepting asylum seekers from France who have a family connection in the UK. The Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told Times Radio the government will build on current action by the French.

1:18We have taken out some of the kingpins of those gangs. We've got a new intelligence unit operating out of Dunkirk. We have persuaded the French authorities to review their laws so that they can take that action in shallow waters to stop the boats because obviously if we can stop the boats from setting off from French shores, that's going to be a positive thing. However, the details are not clear and there are warnings announcing a deal before it's ready would lead to a surge in crossings. The former Conservative Cabinet Minister, Norman Tebbitt, has died at the age of 94. A key ally of Margaret Thatcher, he was the most high-profile victim of the IRA Grand Hotel bombing in Brighton in 1984.

2:01His wife, Margaret, was permanently disabled in that attack and he later retired from frontline politics to care for her. Former Conservative leader William Haig told Times Radio Lord Tebbett was uncompromising. He was tough. He was definitely on the tough end of everything in the Conservative Party. But of course the centrepiece of that in those days was bringing trade unions back within the law. And of course we went into a period of better economic growth, a few days lost through strike action. And so that toughness was part of the revival of the country's fortunes in the 80s. The UK's official budget forecaster is warning the public finances are in a relatively vulnerable position.

2:42The Office for Budget Responsibility says rising debt has eroded the government's capacity to respond to future shocks. The head of the prison's watchdog is warning an overwhelming amount of drugs is destabilising jails. Chief Inspector Charlie Taylor says gangs are using drones to drop up to 10 kilograms of drugs in prisons. Mark Fairhurst from the Prison Officers Association told Times Radio it could get much worse. We are looking at a real serious imminent threat to national security. I was watching a video at the weekend where somebody was rescued from a fire via a drone and apparently the drone can lift a hundred kilogram load so that's a prisoner off an exercise yard.

3:21But my biggest fear in all of this is that eventually, and it's coming because we had several scares already, a firearm gets lifted into a prison by a drone and then all chaos breaks. The government says it's investing£40 million in security. And Yorkshire Water has announced a hosepipe ban for more than 5 million people. It's the first part of the country to face restrictions after the driest and warmest spring on record. Don't forget to subscribe to The Times News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio online.

3:58This 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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