Morning briefing Tuesday 27th October

0:00As John Healy delivers his first budget, Times Radio will be unpacking what the Treasury's decisions mean for your family, your business and your pockets. Facing fierce economic headwinds, are tax rises now unavoidable? Join Andrew Neil and Joe Coburn from One on Wednesday and then meet John Pienaar bringing reaction from all the key Westminster players on Drive. Follow every moment of the autumn budget live and free on Times Radio.

0:33This is Times Radio's morning briefing on Tuesday the 27th of October. I'm Darrell Jackson. The Times is exclusively reporting that the Chancellor will announce plans to increase the minimum wage in this week's budget by nearly 4%. But John Healy will slow the rise for 18 - to 21-year-olds after warnings they're being priced out of jobs. For those aged over 21 working 40 hours a week, that would mean a salary of almost£27 ,500 a year. But David Hale, Government Affairs Director at the Federation of Small Businesses, told Times radio, there must be more government support for firms having to pay it.

1:12That is the sort of number that would need a whole government effort backing businesses. If that is the priority of the government, to see that as the absolute minimum wage that people would work on, I think we'd really need to see a huge amount to do to support small businesses in particular to make sure that they're able to deliver that and to cut their costs elsewhere. Israelis head to the polls today in one of the most consequential elections in the country's history. It marks the first national vote since the October 7th Hamas attacks in 2023, which left 1 ,200 people dead and triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

1:48Recent polling puts the governing coalition and the main opposition bloc neck and neck. Russia has confirmed its suspended strikes on the Ukrainian province of Kherson as a localised ceasefire takes effect. It comes ahead of a humanitarian mission led by the United States First Lady Melania Trump. The Russian Defence Ministry says the pause in fighting began at 1am UK time to allow for an aid mission into the Russian-occupied town of Alezhsky. That will allow deliveries and evacuations from the frontline town, which is suffering shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies. King Charles will arrive in the Bahamas today for his Caribbean tour, which is set to be dominated by protests over reparations for Britain's role in the slave trade.

2:32Buckingham Palace has said the king will not shy away from the issue of slavery during his nine-day visit. It's Charles' first official tour of the region since he became king. Chris Shipp, the royal editor of ITV News, told Times Radio the king will visit three countries. We land in the Bahamas first, then Guyana and then Antigua, where there's the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, which happens once every two years. I think in each of those countries, and a number of those Commonwealth members too, will be saying, look, now's the time for an apology. Now's the time for you to address the horrors of the slave trade.

3:07And please can we start talking about some form of reparations or compensation? And Ballon d 'Or winner is Harry Kane. Harry Kane has won the 2026 Ballon d 'Or, becoming the first Englishman to win football's most prestigious individual trophy in 25 years. The England and Bayern Munich striker was crowned the best men's footballing talent in the world at a ceremony in London last night after scoring 73 goals across the 2025-26 season. Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I can imagine it was really tough this year, some of the incredible players. I was up against some of my teammates, some world-class players in the room tonight.

3:50So thank you to everyone who voted for me. And you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

4:05In 2011, a woman's body was found in a California vineyard. This is one of those types of murder investigations that you come across maybe once, maybe never. It appeared the killer tried to make the victim unidentifiable. Much more extreme than any other case I'd ever worked on. It haunted me. For over a decade, she was a Jane Doe. Then she finally had a name. But learning her identity is when the real mystery began. The killer knows who you are, but you don't know who the killer is. So be careful, because that's not a one and done. I'm Olivia LaVoice, and this is Ada. All episodes available now.

4:48Listen wherever you get your podcasts.