Daily Briefing Saturday 6th December

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 6th December with me, James Kitchen. The former Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace has told Times Radio Washington is running out of patience with British military spending.

0:46It's understood the United States wants Europe to take over the majority of NATO's conventional defence capabilities by 2027. Pentagon officials have reportedly told European diplomats that leadership over intelligence and missiles will be handed over in the next 12 months. Speaking to Times Radio, Sir Ben accused the UK government of posturing when it comes to defence. America has been warning for well over a decade that we've got to carry the burden. At the moment, the only real countries stepping up are Germany, Poland, the Nordic countries. Britain isn't. Britain's back to press releases and posturing around the world at the moment and spin from the Ministry of Defence.

1:26It isn't actually stepping up. It is possible if we want to do it. We have the capabilities, we have the skills. But I don't think Britain and anybody else shows that they're prepared to listen, that we need to rearm to deter. It comes as Ukraine says a series of Russian attacks damaged the country's power network overnight. The Energy Ministry in Kiev reports eight regions were affected, triggering blackouts. There are also reports of drones and missiles hitting a railway depot near the capital. The former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission has accused Labour of having completely abandoned women's rights.

2:02Baroness Faulkner warned the party had lost touch with its fundamental values and let women down over its approach to trans rights and grooming gangs. Speaking to The Times, she said Labour can no longer call itself the party of equality and feminism and accuse ministers of failing to stand up for women and girls who were oppressed and vulnerable. The Politics Home chief reporter Alan Tolhurst told Times Radio the government's being held captive by its own backbenches. This government's got this big majority, this huge kind of tranche of MPs after the last election and is not able, you know, Normally you'd be able to corral them and push them around and make them do your bidding as this big, powerful government with a big majority, but it does feel as though the tail is wagging the dog on a lot of issues.

2:44The European Union is calling on Sakhir Starmer to accept an uncapped youth mobility scheme as part of his reset in relations with Brussels. Labour ministers are divided over the move, with critics concerned about a backlash from voters worried about immigration. The EU also wants European students to be given equal treatment with their British counterparts and not pay international university fees. David Hennig is the UK director of the European Centre for International Political Economy. He told Times Radio he thinks attitudes towards free movement have changed since Brexit. There's no doubt that I think people are warming to the idea that maybe freedom of movement wasn't so bad after all.

3:24So I think that 10 years ago this was the big issue of the time really as we can't control the movement. I think there's a lot more people now realising the UK has perhaps lost out in some respects than that. You know, it ties into questions around the wider immigration system. And there are growing calls for competition authorities to block Netflix's takeover of Warner Brothers Studios. The streaming giant has agreed to buy the film and streaming business for£54 billion. Unions in the US are warning the takeover would eliminate jobs and worsen conditions for entertainment workers. And remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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