Morning briefing Wednesday 15th April

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 Wednesday the 15th of April. The Chancellor is proposing an increase in defence spending of less than£10 billion over the next four years, despite warnings that the UK's national security is in peril.

0:48In a speech he delivered last night, the former head of NATO, Lord Robertson, George Robertson, argued that defence spending should be enhanced by reducing the welfare budget. The Times has learned that the armed forces are facing a funding gap of around£28 billion over the rest of this decade. Justin Crump is a former British Army officer and military analyst. He says Rachel Reeve's reduced commitment to defence is due to the impact of the Iran war on the public finances. It's kind of a bit like insurance. You hope you don't need it, but if you don't invest in it, you're really going to feel the loss.

1:22If you do invest in it, you put off a far greater cost later. So there's still that feeling that the government's just not getting it and can't balance wind farms, welfare and warfare correctly. President Trump says talks with Iran could resume this week after the first round in Pakistan ended without a deal. Speaking to the New York Post, Trump said a US delegation might be inclined to return to Islamabad. Elliot Abrams is a former special representative to Iran under Trump. He says both sides are trying to avoid a return to conflict. The question is whether they can find, of course, a ground of compromise.

2:00The president, I think, wants to for all sorts of reasons, economic reasons, the elections in November here. But he was a terrible critic of President Obama's 2015 agreement with Iran. He can't do that again. Details of the king and queen's four-day visit to the United States later this month to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence have been announced by Buckingham Palace. Among the confirmed engagements from the 27th of April, the King will deliver a speech to Congress and attend a commemoration to mark the forthcoming 25th anniversary of 9-11. Kinsey Schofield is a royal reporter based in California.

2:45Speaking to Times Radio, she said Charles and Camilla will attend the American equivalent of a street party as well as a number of other events. They're also going to have a private tea hosted by the President and the First Lady, but we're also expecting to see them in New York, highlighting the modern UK-US relationship, they say, through culture, community and economic growth, as well as Virginia. They say there they will be connecting local communities, heritage and nature. And England have taken a significant step towards qualifying for next year's Women's World Cup after a 1-0 win over the holders' Spain at Wembley.

3:22It means that at the halfway stage of their campaign, Serena Wiegmann's England side topped their group with a maximum nine points. We need to keep that significance by getting a result next Saturday and of course then against Ukraine and then we have Spain again. So of course we're really happy with the win and get prepared for Iceland because that's going to be a tough challenge again. Elsewhere, Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League by the holders Paris Saint-Germain. There's more on all of these stories throughout the day on Times Radio. This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC.

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