Evening briefing Monday 22nd 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 Evening Briefing for Monday the 22nd of December with me, James Kitchen. The singer-songwriter Chris Rear, known for his festive hit Driving Home for Christmas, has died at the age of 74.

0:45The musician was surrounded by his family when he passed away in hospital after a short illness. They've described their loss as immense. Middlesbrough FC, his hometown club, have paid tribute to a Teesside icon. Speaking of Times Radio, the music journalist Matt Charlton said the track was a stroke of genius. This is quite a hopeful song and it really works on the radio at Christmas as you'll mostly find yourself stuck in your car going somewhere. So it was a bit of a masterstroke on his part to write such a song. Ministers could use tariffs to stop British farmers being undercut by foreign imports after the government's animal welfare reforms.

1:26Rural campaigners have warned that government plans to ban cages for chickens and pigs could threaten British farming if not matched by higher welfare standards for imported meat. It's fit countries with lower standards could offer cheaper produce. The Times' countryside correspondent Will Humphreys has called the farmer's response unprecedented. Farmers don't really unite about anything. They all keep to their own farm, keep an eye on the neighbour and try and out-compete them normally. They can't really agree on many things. It is pretty incredible what Labour have done in uniting almost every farmer I've spoken to or known.

2:04It's completely against the tax changes and it's completely against what they're doing in terms of the environmental scheme. Tony Blair's former Europe minister has told Times Radio Britain rejoining a customs union with the EU is an idea worth exploring. It comes as the Health Secretary Wes Streeting has openly defied Sir Keith Starmer by backing the move, despite the Prime Minister ruling it out. Polling suggests strong support for the idea among Labour voters fuelling speculation about the Health Secretary's leadership ambitions. Speaking to Times Radio, Dennis McShane said Sir Keir Starmer needs to be bold.

2:39It's not a magic solution. Nonetheless, the hit to our economy is clear. So many firms are just not able to have to shut down because they can't trade as once they did. And all the promised jobs and investment from Boris Johnson and Nigel Farrell have not arrived, are not going to arrive. So what do we do? Just become poorer, sort of sadder, decay gently into irrelevance? The Danish government says it will call the U.S. ambassador for an explanation after Donald Trump appointed a special envoy to Greenland. The U.S. president announced the Republican governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, will take up the role.

3:19Mr Trump has repeatedly said he'd like to annex the semi-autonomous Arctic island which belongs to Copenhagen. Greenland's Prime Minister says the island must decide its own future and its territorial integrity must be respected. And motorists could be paying over the odds at the pump. The competition watchdog says fuel retailers' profit margins remain persistently high and unexplained, even though petrol prices have fallen over the past year. The CMA warns weak competition means prices aren't dropping as much as they should. And remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live at Times Radio Online.

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