Evening briefing Wednesday 20th May

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 Radio evening briefing on Wednesday the 20th of May. The Ministry of Defence says an RAF reconnaissance plane was dangerously intercepted by two Russian fighter jets last month, one of which came within six metres of the British plane's nose.

0:49The MOD says it happened during a routine flight in international airspace over the Black Sea. One of the Russian jets flew close enough to trigger the British plane's emergency systems, including disabling the autopilot. It happened days after Defence Secretary John Healy exposed a secret Russian submarine operation in the North Atlantic last month. Our armed forces left them in no doubt that they were being monitored, that their movements were not covert as President Putin planned, and that their attempted secret operation had been exposed. A government minister has told Times Radio that the sale of diesel refined from Russian oil and of liquefied natural gas from Russia has been extended to avoid market volatility.

1:31It was announced last October that diesel and jet fuel refined in third-party countries would be banned from today. The government says that will still happen eventually. There are concerns about shortages caused by the Iran war. Trade Minister Chris Bryant. We were nervous about market instability. We didn't want to see a sudden spike as a result of what we were doing. This is something very similar to what Australia, Canada and the United States have done. And we wanted to phase this bit in. And that's why there is a temporary licence for two categories, for diesel and for LNG. The former Health Secretary Wes Streeting has made his resignation speech in the House of Commons, issuing a warning about nationalism.

2:11Nationalists are in power in every corner of the United Kingdom. Scottish and Welsh nationalism represents an existential threat to the future integrity of the United Kingdom. and Reform UK represent a threat to the values and ideals that have made this country great. He has made it clear he would like to be Labour Party leader. And the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has suggested that mooted price caps on milk, eggs and bread in supermarkets would be unsustainable. The Treasury is thought to be exploring plans for voluntary price freezes in exchange for relaxing regulations. The former head of Sainsbury's Justin King says it's a bad idea.

2:53Price controls in the kind of marketplace that we live in are a nonsense. They haven't worked in this country if they ever did for a very, very long time. And we really need to start being more candid about why inflation is what it is and what's causing it. And of course, a good bit of the inflation we have at the moment has been caused directly by the government. A government minister has denied that price caps are being considered. And you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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