Morning briefing Monday 14th 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. This is The Times Morning Briefing on Monday the 14th of July. I'm Daryl Jackson. Southend Airport will be closed until further notice, with all flights cancelled after a small plane crashed moments after take-off yesterday, sending a huge fireball into the air.

0:50Witnesses say the pilots had waved at children shortly before the collision. Former pilot and aviation expert Terry Tozer told Times Radio that air travel is still very safe. I always used to say when I was in the airline world, the most dangerous part of my day was driving to and from the airport. and once I got in the aircraft I knew that I was in the hands of professionals with well-maintained kit and it is extremely safe. Statistically, check the figures, it proves it. The light aircraft, 12 metres long, was travelling to the city of Lelystad in the Netherlands. It's unclear how many people were on board at the time.

1:27Two women had been killed in a shooting at a church in the US state of Kentucky. Two male victims were also wounded at the Richmond Road Baptist Church in the city of Lexington on Sunday. One sustained critical injuries and the other is in a stable condition. The governor of the Bank of England has told The Times that the bank is ready to make larger cuts to interest rates if the jobs market shows signs of a pronounced slowdown. Andrew Bailey says there's consistent evidence of businesses adjusting employment after Rachel Reeves increased employers' national insurance contributions. He says Britain's economy is growing behind its potential, opening up slack that would help to bring down inflation.

2:08Dr Jerry Mitchell, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of the West of England, told Times Radio that the bank is noticing something in the labour market. They've got a sense that probably there is a bit of a slowdown. I did notice that at the last monetary policy committee meeting where they set interest rates, one member of the committee unexpectedly switched from wanting to hold rates to cut rates and it seems that he was probably swayed by labour market data. So I think it's probably an indicator that they're starting to see a sign of slowdown in the labour market. Meanwhile, recruiters have reported a continued decline in companies hiring full and part-time staff.

2:44A survey for the quarter to June found widespread reports that companies had pulled back on hiring due to reduced confidence around the economic outlook and worries over costs. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation also says overall availability of staff increased rapidly last month. They made reports of redundancies and weaker demand for workers. The dates for Donald Trump's state visit to the UK have been announced, with the US President due to be welcomed by the King from the 17th to the 19th of September. Buckingham Palace also confirmed that President Trump and First Lady Melania will be hosted by the King and Queen at Wintercastle.

3:20It was expected the three-day state visit would take place in September, after Mr Trump let slip earlier in April that he believed that was when his second state visit was being planned for. And you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day over on Times Radio.

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