Second accidental release of prisoner ‘utterly unacceptable’, No 10 says, as Lammy blames system left by Tories – UK politics live

4.54pm GMT Foreign prisoner released accidentally 'first entered UK in 2019' The Algerian prisoner who was released by mistake from HMP Wandsworth last week is not an asylum seeker and may have been in the UK for about six years, it has emerged. He entered the UK on a visit visa in 2019, and in February 2020 was logged as someone who had probably overstayed. He is now at the initial stages of the deportation process, according to sources familiar with the case. It is Home Office policy to deport foreign nationals who commit crimes in the UK. More than 35,000 foreign nationals were returned during Labour’s first 12 months in office, including 5,179 foreign national offenders (FNOs). That was a 14% increase on FNO returns in the previous 12 months. 4.40pm GMT Streeting offers benefits to residential doctors in hope of averting strike planned for next week Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has made a fresh package of offers to resident doctors in a bid to avert strike action, PA Media reports. PA says: Resident doctors in England, formerly known as junior doctors, are set to strike for five days from Friday next week in an ongoing row over jobs and pay. The British Medical Association said resident doctors will walk out from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November. Streeting has now set out a package of measures and called on doctors to call off the “unnecessary” strike action. The package includes doubling of “additional” speciality training posts to avoid doctors being out of work, and other incentives including covering the costs of mandatory exams and membership fees. In a letter to resident doctors, he said: “The offer is one that will deliver more training places for resident doctors, put more money in your pockets, and improve your working lives. It will also protect patients – and your fellow NHS staff – from the disruption and damage of industrial action should you choose to accept this offer.” Streeting has previously said the government will not budge on headline pay. 4.36pm GMT Lancashire’s Reform-run council plans to close care homes and day centres to sell off land Lancashire’s Reform-run council has been accused of “selling off the family silver” with plans to save £4m a year by closing five council-run care homes and five day centres and selling off the land, Helen Pidd reports. Related: Lancashire’s Reform-run council plans to close care homes and day centres to sell off land 4.18pm GMT Philp says complaining about Tories wrongly calling release error prisoner asylum seeker is 'dancing on head of pin' Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has dismissed complaints about the Tories wrongly describing the foreign prisoner released by mistake as an asylum seeker by accusing critics of “dancing on the head of a pin”. Philp was speaking in a BBC interview in which he claimed David Lammy was “dishonest” at PMQs because he refused to confirm that there had been another accidental prison release, even though he knew there had been. Lammy was asked if another asylum seeker had been accidentally released, and at the end of PMQs James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, told MPs that a “second asylum seeker” had in fact got out by mistake. (See 12.44pm.) When it was put to him that the person who was released was not actually an asylum seeeker, Philp replied: I think that is dancing on the head of a pin. Clearly the release of a foreign national criminal, a man with previous sex offences, is relevant, it is germane to the question that was asked. And, despite the fact that David Lammy was standing there with the briefing notes in his folder [see 3.57pm], he chose not to tell the public in parliament. Instead, he shouted and he blustered. He hid the truth. He was dishonest with parliament and dishonest with the public. Philp said that Labour had been in power for almost a year and a half, and that they were responsible for running the prison system. He claimed that if they were to adopt the Tory policy of withdrawing from the European convention on human rights, they could deport foreign prisoners more easily. Updated at 4.21pm GMT 3.57pm GMT David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, declined to confirm that another foreign offender had been released from prison by mistake because he did not want to pre-empt a police statement on the matter, Steven Swinford from the Times reports. Swinford says: I’m told David Lammy had a pre-prepared statement that was ready to go on the accidental release of the migrant sex offender as he stood at the despatch box It expressed outrage on behalf of victims and criticised the Tories. But he didn’t use it, instead refusing to comment when it was repeatedly put to him that a prisoner had been released Lammy is said not to have wanted to pre-empt any statement from the Met Police. The statement was there in case the news broke during Prime Minister’s questions Swinford suggests some government colleagues think that Lammy should have answered the question, and that they view his defiant tone as a mistake. 3.52pm GMT The Algerian man who was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London last week is Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, PA Media is reporting. 3.48pm GMT Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent. Ahead of Highland council’s meeting tomorrow to discuss the UK government’s proposals to turn Inverness barracks into accommodation for asylum seekers, a report from senior officials has recommended the local authority writes to the Home Office to seek “urgent clarity”. The plan was to move the first asylum seekers into Cameron Barracks – as well as another site in Sussex – by the end of the month, but it has been reported that this may be delayed due to major safety work including asbestos removal. With significant local opposition emerging to the proposal council officers said: At the point of writing, there remains a lack of detail as regards what the Home Office proposals will mean, with key questions outstanding in relation to the specifics around implementation, community safeguarding and impact on local services. After a meeting with UK asylum minister Alex Norris yesterday, Holyrood’s social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville likewise called for clarity on the impact on health, policing and other local services. She said: The Home Office must provide urgent clarity to stop the spread of disinformation amongst communities in Inverness. Scotland welcomes refugees and people seeking asylum but it is vital that the Home Office provides clear communication and reassurances on the impact on local services. 3.45pm GMT Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has claimed that “British people are being put at risk by the sheer incompetence” of the government. He said this in an open letter sent to David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary. 3.37pm GMT Does Labour have a definition of 'working people'? A reader asks: Andrew, has Labour yet really defined “working people or hard working families”? These terms are continuing to be used but the definition seems to continually vary. Yesterday Reeves stated that “those people went out to work and relied on public services”. Surely that’s all going to encompass a lot of potentially higher earners as well as potentially more modest earners. Given those people are the focus of Starmer’s “mind’s eye” and were told they’d be exempt from tax rises, it seems curious that they haven’t been defined. “Hard-working families” were always basically just families where at least one person works. But we don’t hear so much about them now. “Working people” are a more important group, because the phrase crops up 20 times in Labour’s manifesto. Two of the most important are in the passage on tax. We will ensure taxes on working people are kept as low as possible. Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase national insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of income tax, or VAT. You are right to say that Labour has not provided a formal, fixed definition. At various times they have been defined as people who don’t have large savings they can rely on if they face difficulties (by Keir Starmer), anyone who gets a payslip (by Darren Jones), people on modest incomes (by Heidi Alexander). Last week Sam Coates from Sky News offered a new definition. He said: Sky News has obtained an internal definition of “working people” used by the Treasury. Officials have been tasked with protecting the income of the lower two-thirds of working people, meaning in theory people earning more than around £46,000 could face a squeeze in the budget. 3.16pm GMT Badenoch renews call for more North Sea oil drilling, claiming UK faces 'oil and gas emergency' Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent. Kemi Badenoch has been in Aberdeen today where she declared an “oil and gas emergency” which she blamed on the “anti-growth policies of the Labour government in Westminster and the SNP in Holyrood”. The Tories have been focusing heavily on the oil and gas sector in recent month, as Reform UK pledges to ditch the drive to net zero entirely if elected. Climate emergency campaigners have dismissed both parties as reckless. Badenoch said: By the end of Labour’s first term in office, it’s not inconceivable that Scotland’s oil and gas sector will be at serious risk, with domestic production currently set to half by 2030. That would be a shocking indictment of Labour’s energy policy, and a dangerous act of economic self-sabotage. Enough is enough. Keir Starmer must find the backbone to ditch Ed Miliband’s net zero fanaticism, which is forcing up bills and driving away industry. Instead, the prime minister should do what our economy needs, scrap the energy profits levy and end the moratorium on new licences in the North Sea. If the Labour government fails to act, we could be witness to the end of our domestic energy security as we know it. 2.39pm GMT The Liberal Democrats say David Lammy should return to the Commons to make a statement about the latest mistaken prisoner releasee. Jess Brown-Fuller, the Lib Dem justice spokesperson, said: Just when you couldn’t think things could get any worse for the Ministry of Justice, somehow they have. It would be laughable if the situation weren’t so dangerous. This is yet another grave mistake from the government. The public deserves a full explanation about how this has happened again. That should start with David Lammy coming back before parliament this afternoon for why he failed to answer this pressing question in PMQs as well as a full explanation of how it took almost a week for this to come to light. 2.31pm GMT Latest prisoner wrongly released not an asylum seeker, source says Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s political editor, says she has been told that the Algerian prisoner mistakenly released is not an asylum seeker. UPDATE: The wrongly released prisoner is *not* an asylum seeker, I’m told. “This shows it’s wise to check all your facts,” a source says of Cartlidge’s questions. More info expected on his immigration status later. The Telegraph first reported that the man was an asylum seeker, and James Cartlidge repeated this in the Commons after PMQs. (See 12.44pm.) No 10 did not correct this at the post-PMQs lobby briefing. 2.16pm GMT Kemi Badenoch was not attending PMQs today, but she is not taking the day off. She has been posting on social media, claiming the latest prisoner release shows that the government is a “shambles”. .@jcartlidgemp asked the Deputy PM FIVE times to tell us if ANOTHER migrant sex offender had been accidentally released from prison. Instead of answering, Lammy lost his temper. Now we read it HAS happened again & he’s been on the run for a week. This is a shambles of a govt. In the Commons last month, in a statement on Hadush Kebatu, David Lammy said that when the Conservatives were in power “they presided over 17 mistaken [prison] releases per month”. 2.04pm GMT Lammy says he is 'outraged' about accidental prisoner release, and claims that shows 'flaws' in system left by Tories David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, has also put out a statement about the prisoner release. He says he is “absolutely outraged”. I am absolutely outraged and appalled by the mistaken release of a foreign criminal wanted by the police. The Metropolitan police is leading an urgent manhunt, and my officials have been working through the night to take him back to prison. Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers. That is why I have already brought in the strongest checks ever to clamp down on such failures and ordered an independent investigation, led by Dame Lynne Owens to uncover what went wrong and address the rise in accidental releases which has persisted for too long. This latest incident exposes deeper flaws across the failing criminal justice system we inherited. Dame Lynne Owens’ investigation will leave no stone unturned to identify these issues, so we can fix them, improve safeguards and ensure the public is properly protected. 1.58pm GMT No 10 says second accidental release of prisoner 'utterly unacceptable' Downing Street said the release of a further prisoner is “utterly unacceptable”. Speaking at the post-PMQs lobby briefing, the No 10 spokesperson said: We have been very open about the chaos that this government has inherited. The fact that jails were full to the point of capacity. Urgent action has been needed to do exactly that, to restore faith in the justice system. We’ve been very clear as well there is no overnight fix. We completely accept that this type of case is utterly unacceptable and needs to be dealt with, and the system needs to be reformed and the appropriate checks need to be in place to stop this type of thing from ever happening. The public will rightly view any mistaken release of a prisoner from custody on to the streets as unacceptable. It’s importance the police are given the time and space to bring him back into custody. And we will look into the circumstances behind this as a matter of urgency. The spokesperson would not say when Lammy was notified about the accidental release of the prisoner. But Keir Starmer was not told about this until the Metropolitan police put out their statement. UPDATE: A reference to the prisoner who has been released being an asylum seeker has been taken out. (See 2.31pm.) Updated at 2.33pm GMT 1.41pm GMT Police ‘urgently’ looking for prisoner freed by mistake in London Here is Pippa Crerar and Peter Walker’s story about the latest mistaken prison release. Related: Police ‘urgently’ looking for prisoner freed by mistake in London As Pippa and Peter report, mistaken prisoner releases are not that unusual. In the year to March 2025, 262 prisoners were accidentally released, up from 115 the previous year. Ministers have cited these figures as evidence that the Tories left them with a justice system that does not function properly. 1.38pm GMT PMQs - snap verdict Earlier this week Kemi Badenoch said that, when she is preparing for PMQs, she finds it helpful to think of it as a pantomime. As an assessment of how PMQs functions, that is reasonably accurate, although whether it should function like that is, of course, another matter. Pantomimes have heroes and villains, and today David Lammy ended up as the villain. It was not entirely his fault, but he has had better days at the despatch box. But he did not mess up as badly as James Cartlidge apparently did. Lammy started off well, brushing off the question from Cartlidge, about the father of the victim of Hadush Kebatu not having had a direct apology from ministers, but then Cartlidge started asking if he could reassure MP that “since Kebatu was released, no other asylum seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison?” That was question two. (See 12.07pm.) As Lammy refused to give a direct answer, Cartlidge then asked a version of the same question four more times. Presumably Cartlidge knew from the start that another foreign prisoner had been inadvertently released. And presumably Lammy did too, and was faced with a choice between a) either confirming something hugely embarrassing in the most-high profile parliamentary slot of the week, or b) repeatedly avoiding the question, which would make him evasive and shifty. Lammy settled on option b). To be fair, he tried quite hard to disguise his question-dodging. He started by implying that he could not answer because of the inquiry that is under way into the Kebatu release. Let me just remind him that he was a justice minister that allowed our prisons to get to this state in the first place and it’s now for us to fix the mess that we’ve got into. It’s important that Dame Lynne Owens can now continue her work and understand what is happening. He knows that early releases begun under their watch in 2021. He unleashed an outburst of indigation. Get a grip, man, I know I’m the justice secretary, that’s why I’m at the despatch box. We know that there have been spikes since 2021 under his watch. When did he come to this house and apologise? And he repeatedly attacked the Tory record. I spent 14 years in opposition and I did a hell of a lot better than he’s just done. I have answered the question. Under their watch, prisons were in a mess. Suicides went up. Prison officers cut – 20,000 neighbourhood police lost. We’ve deported more in the last year than they deported in the last five years. I’m not going to take any lecture from [Cartlidge]. But none of this could successfully cover up the fact that Lammy was avoiding the question. So Cartlidge was doing quite well. But right at the end, he seemed to blow it. He miscounted his questions, and thought he had one more question than he actually did. Reporters in the gallery concluded that he was planning to use his final question to reveal that there had been another inadvertent prisoner release, but did not get the chance. As PMQs went on, the Tory frontbench seemed to be looking for another Tory MP willing to make this point. They even tried to recruit Rishi Sunak, it seemed, but the former PM did not want to oblige and stuck with his question about prostate cancer. In the end, Cartlidge had to use a point of order to pose what would have been his final question. Kemi Badenoch probably won’t be asking him to deputise for her again any time soon. Pantomimes are also about costumes, and the released offender row at least overshadowed Lammy’s actual PMQs gaffe – turning up without a poppy. On rightwing social media, this seems to be the biggest Labour insult to the war dead since Michael Foot’s donkey jacket (which was an entirely confected scandal, and not an actual snub to members of the armed forces at all). In reality – Lammy would have saved himself a lot of bother if he had had a poppy on from the start, but that’s an oversight, not an insult. Updated at 2.34pm GMT 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 mistakenly freed from prison”. 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 2.21pm 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. UPDATE: Cartlidge said: Watching the interview last night, I have to say, was absolutely heartbreaking. And I have to say, I do think [Lammy] owes it to offer an apology here on the floor of the huse, but he should have done that at the start of his remarks. These are very serious matters, which is why I want to ask him a further very important question – can he reassure the house that since Kebatu was released, no other asylum seeking offender has been accidentally let out of prison? And Lammy replied: The house is thankfully quiet, so I’m surprised [Cartlidge] didn’t hear me when I said that of course I apologise and I’m sorry for the anxiety caused. But look, let me just remind him that he was a justice minister that allowed our prisons to get to this state in the first place and it’s now for us to fix the mess that we’ve got into. It’s important that Dame Lynne Owens can now continue her work and understand what is happening. He knows that early releases begun under their watch in 2021. Updated at 1.03pm GMT 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