Morning briefing Tuesday 28th October

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 on Tuesday 28th October. Around 900 people living in hotels while their asylum claims are being processed could be moved to military sites.

0:45The Home Office has identified barracks in Inverness in the Highlands and Cobra in East Sussex as it looks to end the use of asylum hotels. Labour MP Joni Reid is on the Home Affairs Committee. The cost has trebled from around£5 billion to£15 billion. It's cost the public an absolute fortune. It's also severely damaged community relations and tensions. And the quality of the accommodation that asylum seekers are housed in are really quite grim, to say the least. The Conservatives will use an Opposition Day debate later to hold a vote demanding the government releases correspondence relating to the collapsed Chinese spying trial.

1:26The Deputy National Security Advisor has called into question claims from the Crown Prosecution Service that there was insufficient evidence to proceed. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp says it's put Britain's national security at risk. It's thought a sex offender who was mistakenly released from prison will be deported to Ethiopia later. Hadouj Kabartou was meant to be sent to an immigration detention centre on Friday. He was picked up by police two days later. The Justice Secretary has announced an inquiry into what went wrong as well as ordered extra checks before inmates in England and Wales are released.

2:01But former Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick's told Times Radio he doesn't think there's a systematic issue. We should be worried that pressure in the prison system means that prisons aren't very good at reducing the risk that people re-offend. There is a lot of violence and self-harm in prisons. But I don't think from everything I've heard, this incident reflects those kind of pressures. I just think this was one person, or possibly more than one person, taking an eye off the ball and making really terrible, embarrassing mistakes. And I think they will have to be accountable for that. The Tories have called it a national embarrassment.

2:37Forecasters in Jamaica are warning of catastrophic flooding as Hurricane Melissa moves towards the island. Winds of 175 miles per hour have been recorded and nearly 30 ,000 people have been told to leave their homes. Dr Jill Drapanier is a professor in hurricane climatology. Remember, this is an island as well. So there's only so many places a person can evacuate to. You can't all ship the entire island population off on ships as wonderful in an ideal world as that would be. So I think there are many that are hunkering down. They're trying to stay out of harm's way as best as possible. It could turn out to be Jamaica's worst ever hurricane.

3:19Brendan Rodgers has quit Celtic following claims from the club's principal shareholder, he stoked division. Former boss Martin O 'Neill and ex-player Sean Maloney have been put in temporary charge. Defeat at the weekend left them eight points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts. You can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:42This 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