Evening Briefing Wednesday 2nd September

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 Wednesday 2nd September with me, James Kitchen. The Prime Minister has been warned by a senior Labour MP that vibes alone are not going to be enough on defence spending The chair of the Defence Select Committee, Tan Desi, urged Andy Burnham to commit to spending 3 % of GDP on defence by 2030 rather than kicking the can down the road Speaking at Prime Minister's questions, the PM insisted he's already made that commitment We also have to build the resilience of Britain We need to ensure that the maximum amount of that funding committed to the Defence Investment Plan goes back into the re-industrialisation of our communities, that we do more to maintain sovereign manufacturing and production capability here.

1:19And this will be a theme of my government. Meanwhile, Andy Burnham has refused to rule out future tax rises, insisting his government will be grounded in fiscal responsibility. It comes as the cost of borrowing has reached a new 18-year high after rising sharply in recent weeks. Speaking to Times Radio, the Women and Equalities Minister, Bridget Philipson, insisted the PM is prepared to make tough choices. Politics, of course, is about conveying a sense of hope and optimism because people want to feel that the country is moving in the right direction, that their children are going to have better life chances than they have themselves and that there's a sense that our country will be a great place to grow up in, a great place to grow old in.

2:00And I think Andy has really brought that sense of possibility to everything he's done since Parliament has returned. But of course, politics does involve making difficult decisions, having to balance different considerations. The sons of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, have told Times Radio they're hoping Andy Burnham's government will do more to help their father. Khan has been in jail for the past three years on corruption charges his supporters say are politically motivated, Speaking exclusively to Times Radio and The Times, his sons, Suleiman and Kasim, described the prison conditions.

2:33He's in a very small cell, I think it's six by eight feet. You know, he's got minimal light in his cell. He hasn't been getting new books or reading materials for a long time now, months. Barely allowed outside of his cell, maybe one out of 24 hours in a day. And it's obviously incredibly hot there in the summers, and there's no air conditioning in the cells. Multiple prisoners had died of hepatitis from poor conditions in there and the tools they used to treat people. Six Greater Manchester police officers have been dismissed following an investigation into allegations of racial discrimination.

3:09The force says a colleague in the Bury District reported being subjected to abusive behaviour in December 2023. A panel found the officers' actions as well as those of two former colleagues amounted to gross misconduct. Eton College is being criticised after unveiling plans to build a new town on Greenbelt land bordering the South Downs National Park. The North Barnes Farm development would see up to 3 ,000 houses built over 25 years. Locals warned the town would wipe out the rural parish of East Chiltington in East Sussex. The developers, Welbeck Land, say the area needs more housing to help bring property prices down.

3:49Tiger Woods has been banned from driving for five years following a car crash in Florida in March. The 15-time major golf champions pleaded no contest to reckless and careless driving after initially denying driving under the influence. The guilty plea means he'll avoid a prison term. Remember, you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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