Morning briefing Wednesday 22nd October

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0:36This is the Times Morning Briefing for Wednesday 22nd October. Rachel Reeves is set for a£2 billion clampdown on GPs and lawyers as part of her budget plans aiming to target those with the broadest shoulders. The Chancellor is considering changes to national insurance exemptions for people who use limited liability partnerships in an effort to address the£30 billion shortfall in public finances. The Times' political editor is Stephen Swinford. This story has provoked an extraordinary level of reaction, but it is as nothing compared to what is to come. So the discussion in the Treasury right now is, do you break the manifesto?

1:14Do you go for one of the big tax leavers? Jack up income tax particularly. And that is genuinely a live discussion. The Home Secretary is promising the grooming gang's inquiry will leave no hiding place for those involved. Writing in the Times, Shabana Mahmood insisted the focus of the probe will not change. Several survivors of sexual abuse have quit the inquiry amid accusations its scope could be broadened beyond gangs. Samantha Smith, an abuse survivor and columnist, told Times Radio she fears the government isn't committed to the process. Labour neither knew how to nor wanted to bring about true change or justice or involve survivors in a meaningful capacity in this process.

1:57and the fact that survivors are now walking away from the National Inquiry says all you really need to know. British troops have been deployed to Israel to join a multinational force monitoring the Gaza ceasefire. The Defence Secretary says the UK has specialist experience and skills to contribute following a request from the Americans. They're expected to be working with soldiers from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE. Former Defence Secretary Sir Liam Fox says the announcement though hasn't been handled properly. I'm quite sure that if this is an announcement being made through the Times newspaper, rather than the House of Commons, that both the Speaker and Members of Parliament themselves will take a pretty dim view.

2:38If we're going to have a deployment of United Kingdom service personnel and all the dangers that they may face, the British Parliament is the place where it should be announced and where it should be discussed first. Meanwhile, Ukraine's military says it's used British storm shadow missiles to strike inside Russia. Kiev says it attacked a plant making explosives in Bryansk. The prime minister will today host leaders from the Western Balkans as part of efforts to crack down on illegal migrants. Sir Keir Starmer told The Sun he wants to shut down the criminal highway leading through the region. Some 22 ,000 people are believed to have been smuggled along routes there.

3:14And the owners of Paddington Bear are bringing legal action against a satirical puppet show that depicts the match-loved character as a cocaine-snorting party animal. The makers of the Paddington films are demanding that a frightening, red-eyed and foul-mouthed Peruvian bear puppet used by spitting image be handed over or destroyed, arguing it misrepresents the well-loved character. You can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online.

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