Evening briefing Thursday 13th November

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0:36This is the Times evening briefing for Thursday the 13th of November. A Surrey MP has told Times Radio social services in the county need to be taken under government control. It's in the wake of a damning report into the death of 10-year-old Zahra Sharif who says she was failed in multiple ways by the safeguarding system before she was murdered by her father and stepmother. It also found racial sensitivity was one reason her abuse wasn't uncovered. Woking MP Will Forster says the report makes for grim reading. Zara was failed by the state, particularly Surrey County Council. There were multiple instances throughout her life that she could have been saved.

1:13We need to empower those social workers across the country. If they do think a child is being abused, they need to be able to report that and have faith that they aren't going to be accused of being racist. Abuse was reported and Surrey County Council didn't act on those concerns at all or quick enough. The Prime Minister says anonymous briefings over a leadership coup did not come from Number 10. So Keir Starmer has faced calls from ministers to sack those behind rumours his health secretary was plotting a leadership coup. An investigation wrapped up hours after it began. He called such briefings completely unacceptable.

1:46Whether it's this case or any other, I intend to deal with it. I will absolutely deal with anybody responsible for a briefing against ministers, cabinet ministers or other ministers. I've always said that's the standard that I expect and that's the standard that I will enforce. Two-thirds of women serving in the military have experienced sexualised behaviour in the past year according to a new MOD survey. It found that sexual jokes, leering, flashing and unwanted touching are widespread with nearly one in ten women falling victim to non-consensual sexual activity. The Ministry of Defence is launching a prevention programme at Army and Navy bases.

2:23Police and crime commissioners in England and Wales are to be scrapped by the government. The elected officials set budgets and appoint chief constables. Ministers insist£100 million of savings will be invested into more neighbourhood policing. But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp says that won't scratch the surface. This government essentially in their announcement today is tinkering around the edges. They are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. While crimes like shoplifting rocket, while police numbers fall, and while the police face a funding crisis made in the Home Office. A police officer who drove his motorcycle into an 81-year-old woman has been found not guilty of causing death by careless driving.

3:02Metropolitan Police motorcyclist Christopher Harrison was escorting the Duchess of Edinburgh through London when the fatal crash happened in 2023. And drivers of electric cars will have to pay London's congestion charge from the new year. Motoring groups have criticised the move by Sir Sarik Khan as a backwards step. The charge to drive in central London will also rise to£18 a day. You can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online.

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