Evening Briefing Thursday 5th March

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 Radio Evening Briefing for Thursday 5th March with me, James Kitchen. The Prime Minister says he's focused on providing calm, level-headed leadership in the national interest as he defended his response to the crisis in the Middle East.

0:47Speaking at Downing Street, Sakhir Starmer said he stands by his decision not to join the initial US-Israeli strikes on Iran. He also claimed Britain had been building up its defensive capability in January and February ahead of the conflict. The government is facing growing pressure after a drone hit a British base on Cyprus, while the UK still has no naval ships in the region. But the PM insisted Britain was prepared. Long before the US and Israeli action last weekend, we had already deployed additional military capabilities to the region to defend our interests. Throughout January and February, we were moving defensive assets to Cyprus and Qatar.

1:28Fighter jets, air defence missiles, advanced radar and systems to take down drones. to ensure we were in a heightened state of readiness in advance of any conflict beginning. Responding to a question from The Times, the Prime Minister insisted the UK-US special relationship is in operation after he was criticised by President Trump for his response to the conflict. Sir Keir Starmer also revealed the government's first charter flight for British nationals stranded in the Middle East has now departed from Oman. President Trump said he must be involved in picking Iran's new supreme leader after Ali Khamenei was killed in Israeli strikes on his compound.

2:09Iranian officials suggest they're close to announcing the Ayatollah's successor, with his son Mojtaba considered among the frontrunners. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, thousands of people are fleeing southern Beirut after the Israeli military warned residents to save their lives and evacuate their homes immediately. Elsewhere, the Home Secretary is proposing changes to the immigration system, which will see some families offered up to£40 ,000 to leave the UK. Accommodation and financial support will be removed from asylum seekers who are caught working illegally under a new conditional offer of support.

2:41Another proposal is to remove study visas from migrants from four countries where abuse of the system is prevalent. The Labour peer Althubbs arrived in Britain as a child, fleeing Nazi persecution. Speaking to Times Radio, he described Shabana Mahmood's approach as disappointing. Some of the proposals will leave people destitute and will leave them sleeping on the streets. If it is safe for somebody to go back and they're giving them money as an incentive, provided it is really safe, then OK. But I'm worried that there are people who will fall foul of the system under the measures she proposed today and they will simply become destitute.

3:17The Times has revealed that Oxfam considered abandoning disaster relief to become an influencer. A draft plan from August seen by the paper shows a push for the charity to step back from emergency relief. It would instead focus on campaigning on issues including climate, gender and inequality. The proposal was rejected following a meeting of the charity's chiefs in Istanbul late last year. And remember, you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

3:53This 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