Evening briefing Wednesday 3rd December

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 3rd December. Senior figures in Reform UK are suggesting that leader Nigel Farah should secure the defection of Robert Jenrick from the Tories.

0:44A source told The Times that the best thing for both men would be if they joined forces. The source added Robert clearly wants to. Jenrick was asked about this by Stig Abel on Times Radio this morning. We have heard rumours of reform members getting excited about you coming over to be a chancellor in a reform government. You, Robert Jenrick, coming over and being seen as a future chancellor. What do you say to that? Well, it wasn't very long ago that I was running to be leader of the Conservative Party, so I'm not going anywhere. The Conservative leader, meanwhile, has told MPs the Chancellor would have been sacked if she worked in the private sector.

1:17During Prime Minister's questions, Kemi Bettencourt said Rachel Reeves' position is untenable. If she was a CEO, she would have been fired. And she might even have been prosecuted for market abuse. That's why we've written to the Financial Conduct Authority. So will the Prime Minister ensure the Chancellor fully cooperates with any investigation? Reeves made it clear she didn't accept that accusation. The Tories claim that in the run-up to the budget, confidential information may have been spun, leaked and misused. This was Sir Keir Starmer's reply. She's completely losing the plot. She says take responsibility.

1:59Under this Chancellor, Mr Speaker, growth is up this year, defeating and beating the forecast. of. Wages are up more since the general election than in 10 years of the Tories. We've had, I think, five interest rate cuts. A nursery worker has pleaded guilty to 26 serious sexual offences against children. 45-year-old Vincent Chan worked at a nursery in North London between 2017 and 2024. The charges against him included sexual assault and taking indecent photographs. Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford says a whistleblower provided information. We recognise the member of staff who raised their concerns, as without this first report of child cruelty, Chan's abuse could have continued unchecked, putting countless more children at risk.

2:46Our investigation remains ongoing, and we are continuing to review digital devices and assess Chan's conduct across relevant settings. A meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and a US delegation has been cancelled after talks in Russia on the war in Ukraine concluded without a breakthrough. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Vladimir Putin accepted some of the proposals and rejected others in what he described as a normal negotiation process. Former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arsene Yatsunov, has told Times Radio his country is desperately in need of funds. I believe that the most important issue right now is whether Europeans could manage to use Russian sovereign assets as a collateral to provide the loan for Ukraine.

3:25We are completely out of cash. And this would be a really visible and tangible result. So if they manage to deliver, this would give us another trump card for President Trump. And you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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5:00All rights reserved. Copyright 2026. McDonald's at the FIFA World Cup 2026.