Morning briefing Tuesday 9th November

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 a Times Morning Briefing on Tuesday 9th December. I'm Daryl Jackson. The Prime Minister says European allies agreed on the need to ramp up support for Ukraine in order to secure a peace deal with Russia.

0:45Sikha Stamba welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of Germany and France to Downing Street yesterday. The Times is also reporting that the Prime Minister believes a deal to release up to £100bn of frozen Russian assets in Europe to aid Ukraine is just days away. Mark Lyle Grant, former national security adviser, told Times Radio it had previously been agreed that only the interest from those funds would be used. Belgium and one or two other countries have always resisted using the actual capital, if you like, because they are worried that there could be legal ramifications. But the Commission is very committed to finding a way to use this money to support Ukraine.

1:24And it sounds from the talks today as though maybe there is now a majority view in the European Union that there is a safe legal way of doing this. Liberal Democrats are appealing to Labour-backed benches to support a parliamentary bid for the creation of a new UK-EU customs union. Saeed Davey has called on Sakir Starmer to give MPs a free vote on the proposal. Writing to the Prime Minister, the Lib Dem leader says the government's failed to take the steps necessary to begin the work of undoing the damage of the Brexit deal secured under the Tories. The government says it reset relations with the EU in May, securing a deal that is good for jobs, bills and borders.

2:05The NHS says it expects thousands of patients to be hospitalised as the health service copes with the most severe flu outbreak in decades Cases are currently the highest on record for this time of year Medical leaders have urged junior doctors who are planning a five-day strike that will coincide with the peak of the flu surge to end their painful dispute Some schools have closed and others have introduced measures to tackle the spread Rachel Ward is an NHS GP and speaking to Times Radio had this advice. How do we prevent schools having to close? If your child is ill, they should stay at home until they are better.

2:44But also, we should all be getting our children vaccinated when the flu is offered. And children in school are offered that in the school place, and that's really important to take that up. The Met Office has issued several danger-to-life weather warnings for rain and wind in parts of Scotland, Wales and southwest England. Storm Bram is expected to bring heavy rainfall and strong winds which could cause disruption across parts of the UK today and into tomorrow. An amber weather warning for very strong and disruptive winds has been issued for the northwest of Scotland which could cause damage to buildings and homes.

3:20And trains will be given a union flag-inspired red, white and blue paint job as part of the government's rail nationalisation plans. Great British Railways will unveil its branding later before it's rolled out to trains, websites and stations next spring. Ministers say the striking and memorable design was developed in-house. The seven major train operators already nationalised have so far kept the branding of their previous operators. And you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day on Times Radio. This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. AI is everywhere.

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