Morning briefing Monday 8th September

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 for Monday the 8th of September. Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life in prison for a minimum of 33 years, two months after she was found guilty of killing three relatives at a family lunch in Australia in 2023.

0:50The 50-year-old served them beef wellington laced with toxic death cap mushrooms at her home in Victoria. The new home secretary, Shabana Mahmoud, will host a security alliance meeting today in continuing efforts to stop people smuggling. It comes after small boat crossings in the Channel reached a record high. Home office figures show that 1 ,097 people arrived in the UK in 17 boats on Saturday, bringing the total in 2025 so far to 30 ,100. That's 37 % higher than at the same point last year. Labour's ruling National Executive Committee will meet later today to agree a timetable to find a successor to Angela Rayner as the party's deputy leader.

1:36Number 10 says that David Lammy will remain as deputy prime minister whoever wins the election. After a long weekend of cabinet reshuffling, there's been some criticism that the PM is still relying on many familiar faces around the top table. New World columnist Paul Mason has told Times Radio that it does remain an extremely diverse line-up. We've got a black deputy prime minister and we've got a Muslim Home Secretary and we've got three women holders of the great officers of state. One thing you could say about what Keir Starmer has done is he has not flinched from presenting Labour as proudly representing our multi-ethnic and multinational state that we live in.

2:16President Trump has warned Russia that he's ready for a second stage of sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. So after a mass drone attack on Kyiv killed at least four people, including a baby girl. Alexander Hara is a former advisor to the Ministry of Defense in Ukraine. He's told Times Radio that he wants to see a strong response to the weekend attacks. People are not happy for sure but it's not going to affect their willingness of Ukraine and Ukrainian defense forces to fight on. Vilensky said that there will be retaliation and I hope that finally we will hit something in Moscow.

2:53Two GP surgeries have been closing every single week since 2018. The new analysis of official data by the Royal College of GPs reveals we've lost one in seven practices over those seven years. The number of GPs themselves has also fallen by over 600. Dr Lawrence Buckman is a former chair of the BMA's GP committee. He's told Times Radio that this looming crisis has been apparent for some time. There are just not enough workers. There are not enough medical humans on the island of the UK to be able to deliver to the population. The population is rising. The number of GPs is falling. You can't create a new doctor out of thin air.

3:35It takes 10 years realistically to grow a GP. And you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:50This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. AI is everywhere. In the news, in our hands, but return on investment, not so much. So how do you get beyond the hype and deliver AI that powers reinvention and growth across your business? Strong foundations unlock AI's potential. That's why PwC takes you further with tech, strengthening the data quality, processes and workflows that shape how well AI performs. PwC turns innovation into implementation so you can accelerate from experiment to scale. Discover more at pwc.co.uk Here's a tip for you. There's a podcast out there with fans waiting to be your next customer.

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