Morning briefing Thursday 21st May

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 Thursday the 21st of May. The Chancellor will today announce a package of measures to mitigate the worst of the cost of living crisis.

0:44Rachel Reeves will set out plans to help poorer households with the rising cost of energy this winter, but will rule out universal support for all bill payers. In a speech to the Commons, the Chancellor will provide details of the Government's Great British Summer Saving Scheme, which includes free bus travel for children in England in August. This is all about trying to help families with the cost of living. We recognise that things are tough. Inflation has come down, but I recognise that things are still tough for families. And so this summer, when travelling on the bus, for kids, it will be free.

1:17The Chancellor will also announce plans to bring down the prices of more than 100 products by reducing import taxes. Senior allies of West Streeting say he is likely to abandon his bid for the Labour leadership and lend his full support to Andy Burnham if the Mayor of Greater Manchester returns to Westminster with success in the Makerfield by-election. Figures connected to the former health secretary have told The Times that there was an emerging feeling that Burnham would be unbeatable in any contest to succeed Sir Keir Starmer. Aston Villa dominated last night's Europa League final as they claimed the first of this season's European club trophies by beating the German club Freiburg.

1:58Watched by their most famous fan, the Prince of Wales, Villa won 3-0 in Istanbul. Villa's success evokes memories for some fans of 1982 when they won the equivalent of the Champions League. Manager Unai Emery says European success for the club was long overdue. After 1982, they are missing it. The support is not for the Champions League or for something. It's for a trophy. and achieving this one is something that makes us so happy, so proud of everything we are working but we are not going to stop. Southampton have failed in their bid to overturn their disqualification from Saturday's Championship play-off final.

2:37An independent commission dismissed the appeal after the club was punished for spying on other teams' training sessions. It means Middlesbrough, who Southampton beat in the semi-finals, will play Hull City for a place in next season's Premier League. Speaking to Times Radio, the football finance expert Kieran Maguire said Southampton's players could take legal action against their employers. The players might say, well, we've been prevented from earning£2-2.5 million next year. We feel that we should have some form of recompense against those people whose decisions have denied us that opportunity.

3:11So again, that would be unprecedented, but we are living in strange times and we're living in an increasingly litigious sporting world. And politicians and campaigners are calling for a viral online game which has links to incel groups to be removed from a video platform owned by Amazon. A mogul which does not have an age verification system pits two people against each other on a video call during which their faces are scanned. The so-called PSL or perceived sexual level system is taken from the luxmaxing trend that promotes the enhancing of physical attractiveness often to the extreme. There's more on all of these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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