Evening Briefing Tuesday 27th February

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 for Tuesday the 27th of January. An investigation from The Times has found fake jobs being sold to migrants for up to£20 ,000 as part of illegal schemes that deceive the Home Office into granting work visas.

0:49Branded no-job visas, the arrangements allow migrants facing deportation to fraudulently obtain work permits lasting up to five years and then being granted indefinite leave to remain. Shanti Das is senior investigations reporter at The Times. The design of the system so far really encourages this market of middlemen to mushroom because it makes it very hard for an individual worker to find a bona fide employer independently. So in that space, middlemen can just say, I'll help you find someone in exchange for a hefty fee if only you just pay me. The lead author of the Strategic Defence Review, Lord Robertson, has told Times Radio the review authors were operating under certain constraints and were told we had to operate within the 2.5 % level.

1:34Lord Robertson has confirmed that the report writers were dissuaded by the government from raising public alarm or making recommendations that would commit the government to significantly increase defence spending. Clearly, because we were producing a report for the government, we're operating within certain constraints. But it is perfectly at liberty for the government to say if more money is needed, then that money should be available. If they want to accelerate what we've said in the review, then they can spend more money in the short term. That is the job of government. The Times defence editor is Larissa Brown.

2:09Those who carried out the SDR weren't able to question the assumption that the US would continue to remain a dependable ally. They also weren't able to be alarmist or make the public feel at unease because of the defence situation. And they weren't able to suggest the more radical and drastic changes that they might have thought had to take place. So I find that quite extraordinary to learn all of that. England's pubs are to get a 15 % cut on their business rates bills from April after a backlash when a larger discount was removed in the budget. Ministers say the average pub should expect to save£1 ,650 next year.

2:47Glenn Hutchinson is the landlord of the spinners at Cowling in Chorley. He was asked on Times Radio how much this cut means. Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. They've basically given us 15 % discount off a 100 % increase It's absolutely absurd How they're expecting us to continue and survive It's the equivalent of saying right you have to put your beer up by 60p a pint But don't worry you can knock 9p a pint off that because we're trying to help you out It's madness And Angela Rayner has told supporters I'm not dead yet as allies of the former Deputy Prime Minister said she would have 80 MPs ready to back a leadership bid from May.

3:29In private remarks at a fundraiser, the ex-Housing Secretary made clear her intention to return to the government and said Labour's leadership should do better. You can hear more on these stories throughout the evening on Times Radio.

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