Daily Briefing Saturday 1st November

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. Hello, this is your Times Daily Briefing for Saturday the 1st of November with me, James Kitchen. The Times has revealed Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor agreed to leave Royal Lodge after losing the loyalty of his ex-wife and closest ally Sarah Ferguson.

0:48The former Duke and Duchess of York are to finally separate nearly 30 years after their divorce. It's understood Ferguson will not join Andrew when he moves to a private property on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. The pair have been living together at the 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor for almost two decades. It comes after the king stripped his younger brother of his titles and grace in favour mansion over his relationship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew Loney is the author of Entitled, The Rise and Fall of the House of York. Speaking to Times Radio, he called Ferguson the Houdini of the royal family.

1:22She is the comeback kid. She's done it several times before. We have to remember 15 years ago, she was caught in a sting operation trying to sell access to Andrew for£500 ,000 and managed to come back. went on Oprah, pretended to be a victim, and there she was back in the roll box at Wimbledon and at Ascot. Andrew has denied all allegations against him. Rachel Reeves is reportedly planning a tax raid on the owners of expensive homes in her upcoming budget. New, higher bans of council tax are believed to be seen as the most effective method of raising billions of pounds for the Treasury. The former HMRC Permanent Secretary, Sir Edward Troop, told Times Radio it's a politically attractive idea.

2:02If, as she probably has to, she has to get some money from income tax or national insurance or VAT, because those are the three big taxes, then being able to say, well, I regretfully had to hit working people to some extent, but I'm going to hit the better off even harder, makes for a good political story. Other options, including a new levy on the value of homes or imposing capital gains tax on high-end property sales, are seen as less likely. The Chancellor has revealed higher taxes on the wealthy will be part of the story in the budget later this month. Schools will have to teach separate sciences at GCSE under government plans to boost social mobility.

2:44Fewer than 25 % of pupils sit physics, chemistry and biology as individual exams, with most taking combined science, equivalent to two GCSEs. A review of the curriculum is expected to call for reform because more children from affluent areas take separate sciences that can lead to lucrative careers. The former Conservative Education Minister Robert Halfon told Times Radio we need to prepare for the future. The world of work is changing, and actually I think that the curriculum review is a start, but we need to be much more bold. We need to reimagine and rethink education all the way through from primary school right up to university.

3:21Artificial intelligence has forecast to add something like over 10 % to our GDP by 2030, dirty, but only, only if we have the right skills. The Speaker of the House of Commons says he's unable to bring a private prosecution against two men accused of spying for China after receiving legal advice. Sir Lindsay Hoyle says he's still angry that charges were dropped against the pair. They've always denied wrongdoing after being accused of passing information to Beijing for just over a year from December of 2021. And a Reform UK councillor in Dartford has defected to the Conservatives. James Buchan says he's grown uncomfortable with Nigel Farage's party.

4:02He also criticised plans to axe indefinite leave to remain. Reforms called for Mr Buchan to resign and has vowed to win back the seat as soon as possible. And remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

4:23This 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