Lammy says ‘racist’ comments from Reform UK Sarah Pochin last week belong in ‘dark ages’ – PMQs live

12.44pm GMT Second asylum seeker inadvertently released from jail, MPs told - after Lammy repeatedly dodges questions on this at PMQs PMQs is over. James Cartlidge raises a point of order. He says the Telegraph is reporting that a manhunt is underway for a second asylum seeker inadvertently released from jail. Was Lammy aware of this when he refused to answer Cartlidge’s question on this. Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, says Cartlidge has put his point on the record. Cartlidge was referring to this story, which Charles Hymas, the Telegraph’s home affairs editor, is tweeting. A manhunt is under way for a second asylum seeker wrongly freed from prison An Algerian man, 24, was accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth in south London on Wednesday last week. However, the Metropolitan Police was only informed at lunchtime on Tuesday. Updated at 12.56pm GMT 12.38pm GMT Rishi Sunak, the former Tory PM, asks Lammy to back a national screening programme for prostate cancer. Lammy says he has family members with prostate cancer. He says he personally is “biased” on this. But it’s a matter for the health secretary, who is considering the case for a screening programme. 12.36pm GMT Tom Rutland (Lab) asks if the government will ensure that the recommendations from the review of maternity services being carried out by Lady Amos are carried out in full. Lammy says Amos is a friend of his, and her recommendations will be considered. 12.32pm GMT Adam Thompson (Lab) asks what Lammy thinks about the Reform UK and Tory politicians saying the minimum wage is too high for young workers. (Nigel Farage said it was this week.) Thompson asks if Lammy thinks Farage is earning less than £10 an hour from any of his many jobs. Lammy says Farage makes money from helping to sell gold bullion. He says there are people on the minimum wage earning less than 1% of what Farage is on. 12.28pm GMT Pete Wishart (SNP) asks why the defence secretary described the Scottish government as a threat to national security in the Commons earlier this week. The government won’t say that about China, he says. Lammy says the people of Scotland are not a threat to national security. He says has done a DNA test, and he is 5% Scottish. Updated at 12.30pm GMT 12.25pm GMT Lammy was not wearing a poppy at the start of PMQs, but he has been given one, and is wearing it now. But Bob Blackman (Con) makes a reference to this with a question about Remembrance Day. He says he is proud to wear both the poppy and the marigold, which commemorates Indian soldiers. Updated at 12.27pm GMT 12.22pm GMT Lammy says 'racist' comments from Reform UK Sarah Pochin last week belong in 'dark ages' Tristan Osborne (Lab) asks if Lammy agrees that Kent deserves far better than what it is getting from its Reform UK-led county council. Lammy says it is good to see Nigel Farage here for PMQs. And he goes on to attack the comments from the Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin last week. He says: The disgraceful, racist language that we heard from a Reform MP last week belongs to the dark ages. 12.18pm GMT Daisy Cooper, the deputy Lib Dem leader, says the government has not responded to the Lib Dems’ call for an inquiry into Elon Musk’s intereference in British democracy. She asks what the government is doing to protect the democratic process. Lammy says the government is addressing these threats. Cooper asks if the government will use to budget to impose an extra tax on banks. Lammy says the government will announce its budget plans on budget days. 12.15pm GMT The Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, calls a different MP. There are claims that Cartlidge has one more question. Hoyle at first thinks he has made a mistake, but then realises, or is told, he hasn’t. Lammy says Cartlidge cannot even count. 12.13pm GMT Cartlidge asks his question again. Lammy says prisons were a mess under the Tories. 12.13pm GMT Cartlidge asks the question again – have there been any more inadvertent releases. Lammy claims he has answered the question. He says, when he was in opposition, he did a lot better than this. 12.11pm GMT David Lammy tells James Cartlidge to ‘get a grip’ during PMQs clash Cartlidge asks the question again. Lammy says: “Get a grip man.” He says he is the justice secretary, and he says the Kebatu release is being investigated. He says there were accidental releases when Cartlidge was a justice minister. But Cartlidge did not apologise, he says. Updated at 12.14pm GMT 12.09pm GMT Cartlidge asks if any other asylum seekers have been accidentally released since Kebatu was released. Lammy says he has put in place the toughest checks for prisons they have ever had in prisons. Updated at 12.11pm GMT 12.07pm GMT Cartlidge says he is surprised Lammy did not apologise. Lammy says he has just explained that he did. 12.06pm GMT James Cartlidge says overnight the father of the girl attacked in Epping by an asylum seeker, Hadush Kebatu, has said he did not receive an apology after the attacker was inadvertently released. He refers to the father’s interview on ITV. (Kemi Badenoch may not be here, but she is still writing the script.) Lammy says he apologised when he was making a statement to MPs on this. 12.03pm GMT Connor Rand (Lab) says Lammy is the first black person to answer PMQs. He asks about an eight-year-old constituent who is fighting cancer. Lammy thanks Rand for his comment, but he says Diane Abbott and Kemi Badenoch have both been trailblazers in the Commons. 12.01pm GMT David Lammy starts by saying the PM is in Brazil. He says the thoughts of all MPs are still with the victims of the appalling attacks in Huntingdon and Peterborough, where, he says, he was at school for seven years. He says is Remembrance Sunday this weekend. 12.00pm GMT The asylum seeker who re-entered the UK by small boat after being returned to France under the government’s “one in, one out” deal has been removed from the country again, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has confirmed. 11.53am GMT Lammy faces Cartlidge at PMQs PMQs is starting very soon. David Lammy, the deputy PM, is standing in for Keir Starmer, who is on his way to Cop30. And James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, is deputising for Kemi Badenoch. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question. 11.49am GMT Wes Streeting says Mamdani's victory has 'lessons for progressives the world over' Zohran Mamdani’s politics are to the left of Keir Starmer’s Labour, and he is not popular with Donald Trump (which whom Starmer is trying very hard to maintain good relations), and these factors probably help to explain why Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, tried to avoid saying anything about his victory when she was on Sky News this morning. Phillipson said she did not follow American politics particularly closely, and only kept up with the “big stories”. Sophy Ridge replied: “Some might say this is a big story.” 🗣️ 'Do you like New York mayor Zohran Mamdani?' - @SophyRidgeSky🗣️ 'I don't follow American politics especially closely...I'll follow the big stories' - @bphillipsonMP 🗣️ 'Some people might say this is a big story...' - Sophyhttps://t.co/wJR1U4lWY9Sky 501 pic.twitter.com/lIhKPTrJj2— Ridge and Frost (@RidgeandFrost) November 5, 2025 But Wes Streeting, the health secretary, did welcome Mamdani’s victory, saying it contained lessons for progressives around the world. Inspirational campaign and victory for @ZohranKMamdani in NYC. Lessons for progressives the world over. But this tweet has prompted a harsh response from Owen Jones, the Guardian columnist and leftwing activst who has abandoned Labour because he views it as too rightwing. He says anyone like Mamdani would have been “purged and smeared” if they had tried to get on in Keir Starmer’s party. 11.18am GMT Shona Robison demands 'urgent' talks with Reeves over fears 2p income tax rise would cut Scotland's block grant by £1bn Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent. Scotland’s finance secretary Shona Robison has called for “urgent engagement” with the UK chancellor after Rachel Reeves flagged up the prospect of tax rises yesterday. Robison said Scotland “must not be left as an afterthought” in the budget after the independent Fraser of Allander Institute estimated that a 2p in the pound increase in the basic rate of UK income tax would lead to a cut of about £1bn in Scotland’s block grant next year. Income tax is devolved, so a rise in UK rates doesn’t affect Scottish taxpayers’ bills directly. But the rise will impact the block grant adjustment, the mechanism used to adjust the UK government’s block grant to devolved administrations to account for the transfer of tax and welfare powers. If the UK government raises rates, then a non-devolved system would have raised more money – and so the deduction is larger. Robison said: We are calling on the UK government’s autumn budget to deliver more funding for those public services, infrastructure, and cost of living support – including by abolishing the two-child limit in universal credit. Scotland has been short-changed in the past, and we must not be left as an afterthought in the UK government’s budget. Under the current arrangements Scotland has to wait and see what impact the chancellor’s decisions will have for us. Relations with the Treasury are already fraught’ Robison has already delayed Holyrood’s budget into January because of the late timing of th UK budget giving her “insufficient time to respond” before the end of the year and called it “deeply disappointing” that the Treasury failed to inform Scottish ministers of the date before it was announced publicly. Robison said: Recently the chancellor admitted that Brexit has damaged the economy. Brexit has had a hugely negative impact on public spending, reducing the available investment for public services by around £30bn a year. It is hardly a coincidence that it is suggested that the chancellor is looking to address a possible £30bn shortfall in her autumn statement. The UK government needs to follow their recognition of the harm of Brexit to its logical conclusion and recognise that it is only by rejoining the EU and the European single market that they can halt pain being inflicted on the economy and public services. Updated at 11.22am GMT 10.39am GMT Keeping people in work should involve efforts to “rehumanise” the workplace, Sir Charlie Mayfield has said. In an interview on the Today programme, Mayfield, who produced the Keep Britain Working review for the government, said that if an employer does not contact an employee who is off sick, it is not because they are “evil” or “uncaring”, but rather that they are “afraid” that the contact would be triggering or unwelcome. Mayfield explained: We do have to sort this ‘fear problem’, and … [‘fit notes’, the notes from a GP saying a worker is ill] act like a bit of a firewall between you and the employee and the employer. I’ve had employers saying to me: ‘People are lost to us when that happens,’ and, of course, when you’re talking about human health it is obviously very personal, but you don’t solve that through more distance – you solve it by leaning in and having conversations and figuring out what is a sensible and reasonable and appropriate response that will help somebody to get back into work. And in some ways, all we need to do is figure out: how do we rehumanise the workplace such that those conversations happen more naturally and more easily? Whereas at the moment, there are parts of the system which effectively militate against it. 10.34am GMT James Cartlidge to stand in for Badenoch at PMQs, as Tories welcome delay in Chagos Islands deal vote James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, will deputise for Kemi Badenoch at PMQs, Sky News reports. He may well ask David Lammy about the treaty giving sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Yesterday he welcomed the fact that a Lords vote on the bill implementing the deal has been postponed because of Tory opposition. PA Media explained the details in a story filed last night. PA said: A law enabling the UK handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius faces a delay after a Westminster spat that saw Tory critics accused of being “reckless and deeply cynical” in trying to wreck the controversial deal. In a sign of the ongoing tensions over the agreement, foreign minister Jenny Chapman lambasted the Conservatives for putting Britain’s national security at risk and using the Chagossian people for their own ends having “systematically disregarded” them when in government. Hitting back, her Tory counterpart Lord Callanan dismissed her claims as “nonsense” and levelled the charge of “strategic capitulation” at the government. The tetchy exchanges came as the Lords debated the Diego Garcia military base and British Indian Ocean Territory bill, with members of the Chagossian community looking on. In an unusual move ahead of the bill’s second reading debate in the Lords, the Tories put down an amendment to the committal motion, which allows the draft law to proceed to detailed scrutiny at committee stage, demanding a 30-day consultation with the Chagossian community. In the face of a threatened defeat, the government pulled the procedure, effectively stalling the passage of the bill. Opening the debate, Chapman told peers that the legislation “is vital for the security of our nation”. But while proposals to probe the government and amend the legislation were welcome, she said: “Those that are designed to wreck are not about the welfare of a community, but a cynical tactic of delay and disruption.” Callanan said the Tory amendment was not intended to wreck the bill, and would just ensure Chagossians were consulted. 10.19am GMT 31% of women say they suffered some form of abuse as a child, ONS report says Nearly a third of women in England and Wales (31.5%) are estimated to have experienced some form of abuse as a child, along with just over a quarter of men (26.4%), PA Media reports. PA says: The estimates have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and are the first of their kind to use an updated definition of abuse that includes emotional, physical or sexual abuse as well as neglect. A total of 13.6 million people aged 18 years and over (29.0%) in England and Wales are likely to have experienced “any abuse” before the age of 18, the figures show. Around 7.5 million women and 6.1 million men experienced any abuse, with prevalence higher for women across all types except physical abuse, where there was “no significant difference”, the ONS said. Updated at 10.21am GMT 9.56am GMT British leftwingers elated by Zohran Mamdani's victory in New York, with some saying it has lessons for Labour Leftwingers in UK politics have been cheered by the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York. Here is some of the reaction. This is from Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, who, like Mamdani, is the first Muslim to be mayor of the city he governs and who, like Mamdani, has attracted particular hostility from Donald Trump. New Yorkers faced a clear choice - between hope and fear - and just like we’ve seen in London - hope won.Huge congratulations to @ZohranKMamdani on his historic campaign. Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, whose politics and campaigning style have been compared to Mamdani’s, told Sky News that the new New York mayor was “much cooler than I am”. But he said he thought they shared “the same relentless focus on inequality”. 🟠 Is Zack Polanski the UK's Zohran Mamdani?The Green Party leader says he aims to have the same "relentless focus" as the new mayor-elect https://t.co/8rkMfmuvOh📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/z8eA1HVcqO— Ridge and Frost (@RidgeandFrost) November 5, 2025 The Labour MP Clive Lewis says his party should seek inspiration from Mamdani’s win. Mamdani’s win in New York shows courage & conviction still cut through. He stood up to fear & corporate power and won. There’s a lesson here for us: you don’t beat cynicism by managing decline, but by giving people something worth believing in. Another Labour MP, Luke Charters, says Mamdani has shown has rightwing populism can be defeated. Mamdani’s victory shows us how we can defeat right-wing populism here in the UK: deliver real solutions, not empty slogans. The Labour MP Uma Kumaran says Mamdani’s victory shows hope has beaten hate. From London to New York, Congratulations @ZohranKMamdani! Our great capital cities have chosen hope and progressive vision and won I spoke to the New York Times last week about the politics of hope over hate Wishing you and your team all the best Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who now sits as an independent and who is one of the six pro-Gaza MPs in the Independent Alliance, says Mamdani won a seismic victory. Congratulations to @ZohranKMamdani! You ignited a grassroots campaign, built on the radical idea that everyone deserves to live in dignity. This is a seismic victory — not only for the people of New York, but for all those who believe that humanity & hope can prevail. Ayoub Khan, another Independent Alliance MP, has says Mamdani’s win has global significance. Huge congratulations to New Yorkers and especially to Mamdani! A new dawn breaks as truth and unity overcome lies and division. The echo chambers couldn’t hold back the people’s voice. This victory of righteousness will spread across the whole globe! This is from Shockat Adam, who is also an Independence Alliance MP. Zohran Mamdani’s victory sends a clear message that too many forget: Politics starts with people. Always. Congratulations to @ZohranKMamdani and all who stand for social justice, equality, and people driven change. And Zarah Sultana, who was elected as a Labour MP last year but who is now in the Independent Alliance and is forming a new leftwing party with Corbyn, has posted this on social media. The Mayor of New York City 🍎This is what socialist representation looks like! pic.twitter.com/yTUtJA8eXk— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) November 5, 2025 Amy Sedghi has more reaction on our US politics live blog. Related: New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani challenges Donald Trump in victory speech as Democrats win key US election races – live UPDATE: While there are similarities between Sadiq Khan and Zohran Mamdani, there are also considerable differences, and Khan is not a leftwinger in the sense that people like Corbyn and Polanski are. Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future thinktank, has posted a good thread on Bluesky comparing the two mayors. Updated at 11.01am GMT 9.12am GMT David Lammy to take PMQs after Reeves refuses to rule out tax rises in budget Good morning. David Lammy will get his first outing at PMQs today as deputy prime minister, because Keir Starmer is off to the Cop30 climate conference in Brazil. That means he will have the job of dealing with all the questions raised by Rachel Reeves’s speech yesterday that came close to confirming income tax will rise in the budget. While there is considerable controversy about what measures the budget should contain, in an unusual developments leftwing and rightwing thinktanks have joined up to say that the structure of the tax system needs to be reformed. Olivia Konotey-Ahulu has the story. Related: Thinktanks urge Rachel Reeves to overhaul ‘broken’ tax system The initiative has been led by the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax), a thinktank. Its director, Arun Advani, says: The UK’s tax code is riddled with inconsistencies and distortions that discourage investment, penalise work and hold back productivity. There is widespread agreement on the need for proper reform. The upcoming Budget is an opportunity for the chancellor to look at the taxsystem as a whole, and ensure that whatever the total tax take, any changes are also serving her growth mission. Two important reports have been published overnight. As Richard Partington reports, the Keep Britain Working review says businesses need to play a more central role in reducing health-related worklessness. Related: Fixing Britain’s worklessness crisis will cost employers £6bn a year, report says And, as Richard Adams reports, a review of England’s curriculum has recommended reducing the amount of content and emphasis on exams and instead focusing more on life skills and “enrichment”. Related: England curriculum should focus less on exams and more on life skills, finds review I will be covering reaction to both of those. Here is the agenda for the day. Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in north-east Scotland with Russell Findlay, the Scottish Conservative leader. Noon: David Lammy, the deputy PM, takes PMQs for the first time, because Keir Starmer is travelling to the Cop30 climate conference in Brazil. The Tories have said yet who will deputise for Badenoch. After 12.30pm: MPs debate the employment rights bill, with the government planning to vote down amendments to the bill passed by the Lords last week. It is the latest round of “ping pong” before the bill clears parliament. 5.30pm: Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, gives a speech covering the party’s plans to reduce the cost of public sector pensions. If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm BST at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary. I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog. Updated at 10.00am GMT