Evening briefing on Monday 6th October

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 your Times Evening Briefing on Monday 6th October. I'm Laura Cook. New polling suggests two-thirds of Conservative members want to deal with Reform UK and almost half think Kemi Baden-Ock should not lead the party into the next election.

0:48The poll for Sky News questioned 652 Conservative members last week, just before conference began, and also found 14 % expect their party to win a majority at the next election. Meanwhile, the Shadow Chancellor has announced to what the Conservatives would do for businesses if they got into power. So today, I can announce that as a direct result of getting public spending under control, a future Conservative government will completely abolish business rates for shops and pubs on our high streets. End of! Mel Stride there at the Conservative Party conference. Elsewhere, the shadow Business Secretary, Andrew Griffith, said the Conservatives would simplify tax and banking rules for businesses and contractors, repealing the Employment Rights Bill, which it has voted against in Parliament because it would destroy job opportunities for young people.

1:43Elsewhere, a rise of 5 % in council tax could be on the cards for Reform UK's most prominent authority, despite the promise of savings. Kent County Council has been described as a testbed for the party's national policies. Times Radio's Emma Smith has more. Nigel Farage had pledged cost-cutting when reform took control of the council, as he described the scale of spending as beyond belief. But officials now admit services are already down to bare bones and a rise by the maximum rate of 5 % may be needed. Before reform's Doge team had had a chance to carry out detailed work in Kent, the authority has set up its own Department of Local Government Efficiency, so far identifying£40 million in savings over four years.

2:29First-year doctors in England have voted in favour of strike action over their jobs. The BMA said the ballot of first-year resident doctors saw 97 % voting for strike action on a turnout of 65%. According to the union, no strikes are currently planned, but they say current talks with the government on pay will now have to produce a solution on jobs as well as pay erosion to avoid future action. An NHS surgeon has been struck off for making a number of anti-Semitic comments on social media. Manoj Sen, originally from India, likened Jewish people to vermin in a string of offensive comments after the October 7th attacks.

3:08He left his job in northwest London shortly after making the comments. Dame Jilly Cooper has been described as an inspiration to a generation of women, writers and more. The best-selling author died yesterday at the age of 88 after a fall which her children have said came as a complete shock. In a post on X, the publishing house Penguin Books wrote, The world is a drabber, less gorgeous place without you. She's best known for her romance novels, including Mount and Rivals. Jane and Fee spoke to her back in November 2023 on Times Radio. She told them about the time she lost an early manuscript.

3:44Years ago I wrote a book called Riders but ten years before I took it out to lunch to do some corrections on the bus and I got it back to Putney and it had gone so I lost the manuscript can you imagine the horror but ten years later I finished it and it was a much better book than it would have been so I've been very very touching but I've been very lucky in life You can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online That's your Times Evening Briefing on Monday the 6th of October

4:27This 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.