Evening briefing Friday 11th 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 Evening Briefing on Friday the 11th of April. The Prime Minister has announced that the future of British steel is hanging in the balance.

0:41Speaking from Downing Street, he said that MPs will be recalled tomorrow from their Easter break to vote on emergency legislation concerning the future of British steel scunthorpe plant. The Chinese firm that owns it wants to close the blast furnaces there and switch to a greener form of production. The Conservative Tees Valley Mayor Ben Huchin told Times Radio that nationalisation could cost up to£5 billion over the next five years. Just to run it, it's going to cost the government£450 million to stem the losses every single year. Blast furnaces that are needing huge amounts of repair. And if the government wants to deliver a new electric arc furnace, somewhere between£1.5 and£2 billion.

1:22Economists say today's GDP figures are pretty much redundant because of the US tariff meltdown. The UK economy grew unexpectedly in February, but that was before a 10 % charge was announced on British exports, bound for the US. Dr George Dibb is Associate Director for Economic Policy at the Institute of Public Policy Research. He told Times Radio things were looking up before the global turmoil. But this is a really significant shift. It's a big change from what we were expecting. So I think we can confidently say this is a real data point that shows that the British economy, before the imposition of Trump's tariffs and the economic shocks that that was going to bring, that the British economy was actually performing better than many had expected.

2:06With global financial markets in disarray and a cost-of-living crisis hitting hard, Britain has pledged yet more monetary support for Ukraine. In addition to the billions already sent, the UK has now made a commitment to spend£4.5bn this year. That's the country's highest contribution yet. In total, Ukraine's allies pledged£18bn in new military support for Kyiv following talks this morning between 50 countries at a UK-German-led summit in Brussels. Retired British Army officer Major General Tim Cross told Times Radio the US proposed peace deal doesn't seem to have been successful. Of course, Ukraine has identified about 150 Chinese as well as North Koreans fighting against them.

2:51And from a Ukrainian point of view, the attacks on their infrastructure continue. use the agreement not to attack infrastructure and not to use military force in the Black Sea. Both of those are being ignored. But it is not surprising. I don't think Putin is really serious about engaging in any way at the moment to bring about any sort of ceasefire. A road near Bath has been closed for six weeks to allow toads, frogs and newts to move to a breeding lake. The local council agreed to shut off Chalcombe Lane at this time of the year back in 2003 to try to protect them from vehicles. Mike Collins, who helps out with the migration, has told Times Radio it's worked.

3:27Before the road was closed, there were people that went out on patrol to help the amphibians, but about 60 to 70 percent of all the amphibians they found were dead. This year, that was down to three percent, so it's made a massive difference. You can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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