Morning briefing Wednesday 5th August

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 5th August, I'm Daryl Jackson. Ministers are drawing up plans to boost economic growth by exploiting the fiscal rules to increase government borrowing and spend the money on infrastructure, housing and support for business.

0:51The proposals rely on a tweak to official spending rules brought in by former Chancellor Rachel Reeves. That allows investments in company shares or major infrastructure to count as national assets, helping to offset borrowing costs. Giles Wilkes, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government, told Times Radio it could make a difference if it's done well. Is the money invested well, as opposed to what we would just do with it ourselves if it was left in the private sector? Then it will raise the potential of the economy. It's not like spending on consumption. So I do think it's investment, and if it goes in the right places, we'll be richer for it.

1:27But there's not very much room for the government to go further in this direction. It's at the limits of its fiscal borrowing, no matter how you define it, no matter what rules you use. A former Conservative immigration minister told Times Radio that Labour need to reinstate the Rwanda scheme as a deterrent to people trying to cross the English Channel. The comments come after 173 migrants were rescued yesterday after a dinghy they were in capsized. The dinghy caught fire while still in the French search and rescue region. Vessels from France were helped by three British boats to take those rescued back to France.

2:02Former Conservative Immigration Minister Tom Persglove told Times Radio the Conservatives could have made a difference to Channel Crossings if they had more time in government. I'm confident that with the legislative changes that we've put in place, particularly the safety of Rwanda Act, there was a legislative basis there to deliver those removal policies. And it shows what we've seen since just demonstrates why you need that deterrent. We already know that there was a deterrent effect because we were seeing migrants trying to evade Rwanda by going to the Republic of Ireland. What this government needs to do is to reverse their position on Rwanda, get that policy out of the bin.

2:37The Times is reporting this morning that historical child sex offenders will still be eligible for early release from prison, despite promises to exclude them. A legal loophole means new rules blocking early release won't apply to offences committed before 2003, even if the offender was convicted much more recently. Victims Commissioner Claire Waxman is now seeking urgent clarification after the Ministry of Justice was unable to set out exactly which crimes will be excluded. Part of a SpaceX rocket is expected to crash into the moon this morning. The Falcon 9 was launched 19 months ago before unintentionally veering towards the moon.

3:18NASA's previously said there's no danger to Earth from the impact, which experts believe will be equivalent to three tonnes of TNT. Lauren Worley, former NASA press secretary, told Times Radio that despite it not being planned, and they're hoping to learn from the impact. About a year and a half ago, astronomers determined that it will hit the moon, and we're making lemonade out of lemons, as we would say here, and our astronomers and scientific community are going to use this opportunity to study what happens when something really big impacts the moon. You can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online.

4:00This 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. Hi, I'm Katie Prescott from the Times Tech Podcast, which is currently sponsored by IBM.

4:46IBM has worked with Wimbledon for more than 30 years, helping the championships use data and AI to create more engaging digital experiences for fans. That includes tools like Match Chat, which can answer questions during play, and Likelihood to Win, which uses live match data to offer near real-time predictions. It's a practical example of AI in action, helping fans follow the tournament more closely while showing how organizations can turn data into useful insight. To learn more about how IBM helps create smarter business, visit ibm.com.