Afternoon briefing Wednesday 21st January

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 Wednesday 21st January. The chancellors said Britain is not going to be buffeted around by the threat of tariffs from Donald Trump but will seek to confirm a trade deal with the US and keep trade barriers down.

0:49Rachel Reeves is in Davos where the US president will be speaking later following tensions between the US and Europe over his desire to take control of Greenland. The EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Greenland may be rich in resources and strategically important but that it's so much more than that. But above all, Greenland is home to a free and sovereign people. It is a nation with its sovereignty and its right to territorial integrity. And the future of Greenland is only for the Greenlanders to decide. The Chancellor has also said she's feeling optimistic about the year ahead.

1:26Despite inflation increasing by 0.2 percentage points to 3.4%, she says her budget will help reach the target of 2 % inflation, which the Bank of England forecast will be in the spring. Prince Harry has arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where he's expected to give evidence in a case against the publishers of the Daily Mail. He and others claim that information for articles was obtained by carrying out or commissioning unlawful activities. Britain's security services have drawn up plans to move critical financial cables away from the site of China's planned new embassy in London, amid concerns about espionage.

2:00MI5 says a package of mitigation is in place after ministers gave the project the go-ahead. Alex Burkhart, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told Times Radio that they were having to work round the government's political agenda. The government is taking a risk and the services, the intelligence services, are now basically trying to patch the government's risk by saying, we'll move some cables away from the Chinese embassy. We've been opposed to this because we don't think that there is a need for an absolutely enormous Chinese embassy or spy hub in the heart of the city of London. But the government's made its choices and it's going to have to live with the consequences.

2:39Downing Street hopes the decision will help unlock new trade deals with China. A nurse accused of misgendering a convicted paedophile has said she will continue with a legal claim against the NHS Trust after it dropped disciplinary action against her. Jennifer Mele was caring for a biological male who identified as transgender, who was also a prisoner and a convicted paedophile, and she used male pronouns. The patient was said to have responded with racist abuse and physical threats. However, the hospital trust opened disciplinary proceedings against her after she spoke to the media over patient confidentiality and she was suspended.

3:13Nigel Farage has apologised to Parliament's standards watchdog for 17 breaches of the MP's code of conduct. he failed to declare private payments on time, totaling more than£380 ,000. The Reform UK leader blamed the failure on his complicated and complex outside interests. For more stories like this, listen throughout the day to Times Radio.

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