Evening briefing Wednesday 16th July

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. Welcome to the Times Evening Briefing on Wednesday the 16th of July. Sir Keir Starmer has suspended at least four Labour MPs over what have described as persistent breaches of party discipline.

0:43They're understood to be Brian Leishman, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Chris Hinchcliffe and Rachel Maskell. The Prime Minister was recently forced by his own backbenchers into a U-turn on controversial welfare reforms. Rachel Maskell was one of those opposing the bill and says she was concerned that some disabled people might have taken their own lives if it had gone through. I don't see myself as a rebel, but somebody that is prepared to fulfil my role here of holding the executive to account and speaking truth to power. And I'm somebody that is a bridge builder in life and really reaches in to a situation.

1:16And I hold my hand out to the Prime Minister and hope he takes that and wants to reach back. A report has found the anti-terror programme Prevent is failing to spot dangerous young men who are obsessed with mass violence, but who may not be linked to one particular group. It missed clear warning signs from the Southport killer Axel Rudakabana and Ali Harbi Ali, who killed Conservative MP Sir David Amis in 2021. Rudakabana was referred to prevent twice as a teenager, but his case was dismissed. Lord Anderson, who led the review, has told Times Radio some radicalised teenagers have a mixed ideology.

1:52It might be a bit of conspiracy theory they've found online, possibly a hostile state behind it, a bit of personal grievance, perhaps an interest in extreme violence or school massacres, all sort of mashed up together, often by people who haven't really found themselves yet. I mean, you're talking about teenagers. The average age of a referral to Prevent is about 16. The Prime Minister has criticised the Tories over the Afghan data breach and urged former ministers to face up to scrutiny. Hundreds of millions of pounds has been spent relocating thousands of Afghans after their names were on a leaked list of those who helped British forces.

2:27Speaking at PMQ, Sir Keir Starmer said Labour warned in opposition about the Conservatives' handling of the Afghan withdrawal. Ministers who served under the party opposite have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen. The chair of the Defence Committee has indicated that he intends to hold further inquiries. I welcome that. There are calls for a public inquiry. And a teenager who murdered his mother and two siblings will not have his sentence increased to a whole life order. Nicholas Prosper was jailed for at least 49 years over the attacks in Luton last September.

3:03The 19-year-old also admitted plotting a mass shooting at his former primary school. Speaking at the Court of Appeal, Baroness Carr revealed more details. He carried out reconnaissance at the school and captured images of staff and pupils from the school's website. In a note written after his arrest, he drew a diagram of the early years classroom at the school and wrote alongside it, quote, kill all. If Prosper had been 21 or over, she said a whole life order could have been merited. And you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online. This episode of The Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC.

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