Morning briefing Thursday 29th October

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0:16This is Times Radio's morning briefing on Thursday the 29th of October. The Chancellor John Healy is being accused of delaying the government's most important decisions after opting to defer announcements on welfare and defence funding until the spending review next autumn. His decision to postpone a commitment of 3 % of GDP to defence by 2030 has been described as lamentable by Labour's chair of the Defence Committee, Tan Dacey. Healy will also need to find more money next year to spend on welfare reform. Speaking to Times Radio, the Conservative MP Gavin Williamson said there are clear motives behind the Chancellor's inertia.

0:54They could have brought forward those reviews. They're already done, they're ready. They just didn't want to announce them because actually they're trying to put off these decisions, either to have an early general election in order to be able to start taxing the British people even more money, which is the reality of what they're wanting to do. Investigations will continue today after two high-speed trains crashed in Spain, killing at least 68 people and leaving more than 100 injured. The trains collided near Toledo after leaving Madrid's Atocha station within 10 minutes of each other yesterday morning.

1:30The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has pledged to improve transport safety and security following the third fatal crash on Spain's rail network this year. Simon Hunter is a journalist based in Madrid. A lot of blame is being placed on the government. This happened back in January when we had a very similar accident in Spain. And at that point, the question was, is the government spending enough on maintenance? Because that accident was, of course, basically a broken stretch of track. And now the question is, are the safety systems in place that are necessary to keep this network working?

2:04President Trump has returned to Ohio to campaign on behalf of Republicans ahead of next week's midterm elections. He appeared with candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Ohio Senator John Husted, who is up against Sherrod Brown in one of the midterm's most competitive contests. Trump's speech, however, was interrupted by several hecklers, including one who referred to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump went on the Jeffrey Epstein!

2:33After security officers had cleared the auditorium of protesters, Trump defended Ramaswamy against criticism tied to an advert attributed to his opponent, Amy Acton's mother. Six days from now, the people of Ohio are going to elect Vivek Ramaswamy as your governor.

2:54And we're going to elect America First Republicans up and down the line. And suffer laws to protect young people from smoking have been introduced, banning under-18s from purchasing all nicotine and herbal smoking products in Scotland. It also means anyone selling nicotine products will have to hold a valid registration by the end of April, making Scotland the only country in the UK to know where such products are being sold. There's more on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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