Morning briefing Friday 11th July

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0:35This is the Times Morning Briefing for Friday the 11th of July. GPs will be told to prescribe employment coaches or gym memberships instead of signing people off work in an attempt to reduce the UK's sick note culture. Under the scheme announced by the Health Secretary, West Streeting, and being trialled in 15 regions, GP surgeries will be given funding to provide specialist support rather than declaring people unfit to work. The former Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride says the system had failed patients and held back the UK economy. Now the crisis is this is an unsustainable budget. Something has to give.

1:13And I can see why West Streeting is appearing to doctors to try and stop the sick note culture. But of course the doctors, I know doctors who find it very difficult. A former director of Border Force says there are likely to be significant legal challenges to a plan brokered by the UK and France to deter migrants from crossing the channel in small boats. Sakhir Starmer and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, have agreed a deal to return small boat migrants to France with an asylum seeker being sent to the UK in exchange. Tony Smith is also a global border security consultant. Speaking to Times Radio, he said the European Commission will be opposed to the arrangement.

1:53We've got more irregular migrants in the EU than governments are prepared to take. And so they cannot come to an agreement between themselves. So I think that Macron's got a bit of homework to do. When he gets back to the ranch, he's going to have to satisfy the commission and all the others before he can sign any legal agreement. And that might get scuppered. We don't even know when this pilot's going to start. And even when it does start, as I say, it's going to be quite small numbers. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky says he's had a very constructive conversation with his American counterpart Donald Trump about the resumption of military aid to Kiev.

2:27It includes a proposed purchase of 10 Patriot missile systems, which are effective in shooting down Russian ballistic missiles. More than 1 ,750 arrests have been made for non-fatal strangulation in Northern Ireland since it became a specific criminal offence two years ago. The Police Service of Northern Ireland says it has hit the ground running with the new legislation, with more than 2 ,000 officers and staff having received specific training. Detective Superintendent Lindsay Fisher says studies have shown that in domestic abuse cases, victims are eight times more likely to be murdered by their partner if they were previously strangled by them.

3:06It really puts the focus on what this is doing. You're holding someone's life in your hands by putting your hand's arm, an object around somebody's throat. You shouldn't have to then prove something else. Those found guilty can face up to 14 years in prison. And an Islamic charity based in Wales has been given a formal warning after a video in support of Hamas was posted on social media in the wake of the October 7th attacks. The video was posted by the Cardiff-based Al-Manar Centre Trust in November 2023. You can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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