Morning briefing Wednesday 1st July

0:03This is the Times Radio Morning Briefing for Wednesday, 1 July. Sir Keir Starmer says he's absolutely certain his successor as Prime Minister will find more money for defence as he hands over an almost£5 billion black hole. Andy Burnham wasn't warned in advance that a third of the extra funding announced yesterday will have to be found in the autumn budget, forcing any incoming Chancellor to seek tax rises or spending cuts elsewhere to balance the books. Former Conservative Defence Secretary Sir Liam Fox told Times Radio it all smacks of dishonesty. Politically, his legacy is to give a poison chalice.

0:37to his successor, because not only is he£13 billion adrift from what the government said it needed for defence, but it's actually£5 billion short of what the Prime Minister promised. And worse than all of that, it's not as though the government is actually restricting spending in all other areas. The Home Secretary says migrants who break the law will no longer be able to use family ties to avoid deportation. Shabana Mahmood says her new immigration bill will restrict the use of European Convention on Human Rights protections around family life. Jonathan Haslam is a former Downing Street communications chief.

1:12Shabama Mahmood is trying to find ways to assuage some of the concerns that we have naturally as citizens within the realms of quite significant human rights legislation from which actually we all benefit. So we've got to be careful about that kind of thing before we throw all of that away, thinking that there's an immediate magic bullet to be able to solve the illegal immigration problem. Three teenage boys who avoided jail for the rape of two girls in Hampshire will find out this morning whether their sentences will stand. The Attorney General referred the 14-year-old's sentences to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient after a public backlash.

1:50The victims, then aged 15 and 14, were attacked in separate, prolonged incidents described by the Prime Minister as distressing. Newly released documents show the Treasury scrapped numeracy tests for graduate recruits over concerns they disadvantaged ethnic minority candidates. After the online test was dropped in 2020, the proportion of candidates from diverse backgrounds reaching into view increased. MPs have criticised the decision, warning that dropping the numerical reasoning test from the recruitment process helps no one. At the World Cup, a rampant Kylian Mbappe scored twice for France, seizing them into the round of 16 with a 3-0 win over Sweden.

2:28Norway also threw after a late 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast, setting up a clash with Brazil. England faced Diakongo in Atlanta this afternoon, but manager Thomas Tuchel is warning against complacency. We arrive as favourites and they can play in the role of an underdog, which suits them very well, of course, and all this is on the table. But I think it's just important to accept all these things, focus on what we can influence and be the best version of ourselves. It comes as the British Beer and Pub Association predicts 4 million pints will be served today, giving the hospitality trade a 20 million pound boost.

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