Afternoon briefing Wednesday 28th October

0:00Then I thought, what if I've scaled businesses, what if I've scaled my philanthropy? What if I did as much in one year as I've done in my whole life? See how your wealth could have even greater meaning at creativeplanning.com slash impact.

0:16This is your Times Radio news briefing for the afternoon of Wednesday, the 28th of October. Critics of the Chancellor say he needs to do more in his budget this afternoon than announce small helps with the cost of living. Reform UK says he needs to cut the national debt. The Conservatives say he needs to make a commitment to defence spending and cut the welfare bill. John Healy has promised targeted support for businesses and the self-employed. Max Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of Deep Mirror, a company that uses AI to help drug design, told Times Radio why businesses sometimes move overseas. Abroad, it's much more commonplace that private investors also invest in early stage businesses.

0:56and the UK can definitely create more incentives to have private investors also maybe look earlier and look at more risky investment and more high growth businesses. A key focus for traders will be the government's fiscal headroom, the difference between how much the government is expected to raise in tax in five years' time and how much it thinks it will spend. The government's already announced this morning help with energy bills hours before the budget, scrapping the standing charge on gas bills, which everyone has to pay regardless of usage, Times Radio's business correspondent Dominic O 'Connell explains that the charge will be shifted elsewhere.

1:31You won't pay the fixed charge, but you'll pay more per unit of gas that you use. If you don't use too much gas, that's a good thing. If you use more, it's a bad thing because you end up paying more. Good probably for about 60 % of households. If my maths is right, you need to pay just over£1 ,000 a year. That's the crossover to where it becomes bad for you. Russell Brand is giving evidence in his trial where he denies three counts of rape and three of sexual assault. He said that he's not been able to persuade anyone to give evidence in his defence and has acknowledged that he does remember meeting the first complainant whose allegations centre around the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth in 1999.

2:12In Spain, at least 39 people are believed to have died in a crash between two trains. It's thought they were carrying about 500 passengers between them. Spain's Prime Minister has said he is shocked and that emergency services are on the ground. With about 84 % of the votes counted in Israel, the Netanyahu bloc stands at 54 seats, the opposition bloc is on 49 and the Arab parties have 17 seats. It makes the current Prime Minister the most likely to be asked to form a government, but he might not succeed. Gabriel Vinegar, the Times' Israel correspondent, told us the country might have to go through it all again.

2:48If these prove to be the results and it's inconclusive, he may well have to call another election, which would really work in his favour, because this was a push by the opposition. This was a push by the Israeli left. This was a push by Israelis coming from abroad to vote, to change the government. And they haven't done enough. They would have done enough if they agreed to sit with the Arab parties, they'd have a clear majority. For more stories like this, listen throughout the day to Times Radio.

3:19Then I thought, what if I've scaled businesses, what if I've scaled my philanthropy? What if I did as much in one year as I've done in my whole life? See how your wealth could have even greater meaning at creativeplanning.com slash impact.