Morning briefing Monday 24th August

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 News Briefing for Monday 24th August. The Prime Minister will visit Kiev later today in his first visit to Ukraine since starting the role.

0:42Britain has agreed ahead of the visit to give the country classified blueprints for the UK components of a long-range missile, which would allow Ukraine to start producing the French missile themselves. Keir Giles is an Associate Fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Chatham House think tank. He told Times Radio why the plans are so important. Of course, this follows an agreement with the French that Ukraine could actually build this under license, but it's a French-British co-produced missile. And in that respect, the British cooperation is essential. So what we're seeing described now is the finishing pieces, the last parts that Ukrainians need in order to build these missiles themselves, rather than have them supplied by France or the UK.

1:23Two former Home Secretaries have called for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to be given security when they move back to the UK next month. Lord David Blunkett is one of those saying a limited and temporary security package could be given to Harry, Meghan and family until it's clear what their long-term plans are. Richard H is a former member of the Royal Military Police Close Protection Unit. He spoke to Times Radio. If Prince Harry is going to be afforded government-level protection, this is not amateur night. It needs to be provided to the correct level. I mean, if the governments are going to reverse conduct a U-turn on their initial decision to remove his security, where Prince Harry is now coming back to the UK on a permanent basis.

2:06That provision has to be a constant. It can't be ad hoc and sporadic. A cyber attack that shut down a small power facility in the UK last month has been described by security officials as a warning shot by Iran. Hackers affiliated with the Iranian regime were behind the attack at an undisclosed power plant, which disabled it for four days. There were no reports of power cuts in relation to the cyber attack. Daniel Garnham is the General Secretary of the Security Industry Federation Union. He spoke to Times Radio. It's probably not just this week. We don't get to hear about everything that goes on behind the scenes, but we know that Iran and a lot of nation states and activists that are working under their banners would like to interrupt the UK critical national infrastructure.

2:55On this occasion, it seems that they have interrupted it, and it's been off for four days. British-born workers under 35 would be placed at the front of the queue for social housing under a plan to be announced by Reform UK. The new pledges would give priority to married couples with children and veterans. Welfare claimants would be moved to a lower priority. The party has already pledged to bar foreigners from social housing and said they would be evicted after what they called a short grace period Thousands of rectal cancer patients could be saved from needing life-changing surgery after a landmark chemoradiotherapy trial The trial revealed that the treatment saved four out of five sufferers from requiring an operation to remove their rectum which could lead to life-altering side effects More on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC.

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