Morning briefing Monday 29th June

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 Times Radio's morning briefing on Monday the 29th of June. I'm Daryl Jackson. Britain. Andy Burnham is expected to lay out his vision for Britain in his first major leadership speech later as he closes in on the job of Prime Minister.

0:49He's expected to outline one of his flagship proposals, a No. 10 North. This comes after a previous report that Burnham was planning to break off parts of the No. 10 operation and move it to his old stomping ground in Manchester. It's understood to be part of Burnham's hopes to drive devolution and long-term economic renewal across the UK. Sean Fielding is a Labour councillor in Bolton and told Times Radio it would benefit people across the country. If more of these powers and that money is devolved down to local leaders at a council level who can coordinate services between bringing in the NHS and bringing in the DWP and all of the other services that are relevant to getting people back into work, then that will have a massive effect on making sure that people can get the skills that they need for the jobs that there are in the local areas.

1:36And you can hear Andy Burnham's speech in full live on Times Radio from 11.30. The death toll following the earthquakes in Venezuela last week has now risen to 1 ,450. That's according to a senior Venezuelan politician. In a report broadcast on state television, the official also said the number of injured stood at 3 ,150. It's been confirmed that the UK will replace a fleet of big, expensive destroyers with smaller budget warships under an investment plan to re-arm the military for less cash than officers say they need. The move will form part of the long-delayed defence investment plan, which the government is finally expected to unveil tomorrow.

2:20However, it will leave the Royal Navy without a like-for-like successor to its£1 billion Type 45 destroyer. Lord Robotham, Andrew Robotham, a former Army Major and Conservative Minister of Defence, told Times Radio that the plan isn't good enough. I think the armed forces, as all three armed forces, need a huge injection of cash. They need to sort out issues with procurement, admittedly, but they need a huge injection of cash and they need to spend that money wisely on drones and other things. People say you don't need equipment, you do need some aircraft. I don't think we necessarily need millions of aircraft.

2:56You need some aircraft and things like that and you've got to spend money on it. The Times can reveal that ordinary members of the public will replace judges in deciding asylum appeals. The magistrate-style reforms are set to speed up the deportation of illegal migrants. The Times' Matt Dathan has the details. What the Home Office will do is recruit members of the public who, unlike actually magistrates, they will be paid, but they will be trying to recruit from an array of backgrounds and experiences. says you will not need a legal background, which is a fundamental change to the current system where all people who are judging the outcome of asylum appeals must have a highly trained legal background.

3:38And Britain's Emma Raducanu will not play at Wimbledon after withdrawing late last night on the eve of her home grand slam because of a stress fracture in her lower right leg. The 23-year-old announced the decision about seven hours after telling journalists that she did plan to play. And you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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