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Here is a summary from today’s blog:
Justice secretary David Lammy said he had ordered “tough new release checks, launched an investigation, and started overhauling archaic prison systems”, in comments made after the arrest of Brahim Kaddour-Cherif. On Friday, the Metropolitan police arrested Kaddour-Cherif in Islington, a week after the convicted sex offender was mistakenly released from prison.
Earlier on Friday, Steve Reed dismissed criticism of Lammy as questions continued over the justice secretary’s handling of a mistaken prisoner release. He described criticism from fellow ministers as “anonymous tittle tattle”. (See 8.20am)
Prime minister Keir Starmer said that action is needed to tackle climate change but that it also presents a “huge opportunity” for the green economy, as he attended the UN Cop30 climate conference in Brazil. In a video posted to his X account, Starmer said the UK was “really stepping up” at the conference and referred to a number of green economy jobs in Great Yarmouth, Belfast and Manchester that he had recently announced. (See 11.10am)
Kemi Badenoch is relaunching the Conservative party’s “advisory board” for high-value donors in a different guise, the Guardian has learned. The Tory leader has drawn up plans to reinstate the exclusive group, which provided top donors with regular direct access to senior ministers, according to two people briefed on the plans.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick earlier tweeted a graph showing the increase in mistaken releases of violent and sexual offenders this year. In a reply to Lammy on X, Jenrick said: “That’s one down - where are the other 262 prisoners that have been accidentally released? And how many prisoners have been mistakenly released this year? Calamity Lammy is hiding an even bigger scandal.”
Attacks on mosques in the UK have soared in recent months, the government’s Islamophobia monitoring partner has said, with more than 40% of incidents featuring British or English flags and Christian nationalist symbols or slogans. Data compiled by the British Muslim Trust (BMT) shows that between July and October, 25 mosques across Britain were targeted in 27 attacks – more than a quarter of which were violent or destructive.
One of Starmer’s closest allies has been appointed as Rachel Reeves’s chief of staff in an effort to further strengthen ties between Downing Street and the Treasury, the Guardian understands. Ben Nunn, who worked with the prime minister in opposition and is one of his most trusted advisers, will begin his new role with immediate effect.
The chancellor should ignore “scaremongering” by gambling firms and raise taxes on the £11bn sector’s most harmful products, MPs on the influential Treasury select committee have said. In a scathing report, delivered as Reeves’s Treasury team is finalising her second budget as chancellor, MPs accused the sector of hiding its more “insidious” products behind traditional activities such as horse racing and seaside arcades.
The leader of Highland council has accused the UK government of “disrespect” over its handling of plans to house asylum seekers in an army barracks in Inverness city centre. The Home Office recently announced proposals to house asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks as well as similar army accommodation in Sussex as part of their drive to move people out of hotels which have been the target of much far-right protest activity in recent months. (See 11.38am)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
If Keir Starmer’s election campaign was carrying a ming vase across an ice rink, then this budget – according to one minister – is like “wrestling a squirrel across a minefield”.
It is an allusion to the biggest risk for Rachel Reeves, not the markets or big business, but Labour MPs. It was those MPs who were the key audience for the chancellor’s highly unusual speech preparing the ground for possible income tax rises.
Downing Street insiders are talking openly about an imminent rise in income tax. “You don’t exactly have to be a genius to have worked out we’re doing it,” one said.
MPs are being buttered up with breakfasts in No 10 and professors and thinktank veterans are giving private lessons in Economics 101. Reeves has been seeing small groups by region, mostly as a listening exercise.
For a government with such a large majority, it would seem extraordinary to be so concerned about a parliamentary backlash. But the parliamentary Labour party has tasted power at the welfare vote.
“It’s colleagues who are having the most impact on the way the markets move,” one minister closely involved with the budget preparations said. “Whether it’s the two-child benefit cap or the mayor of Greater Manchester saying never mind the bond markets, it literally adds to our borrowing costs.”
“The welfare reform votes in the summer are still a massive issue for bond markets – if you read any analyst note it will still get mentioned,” another senior adviser said. “Before there was a headline assumption that the government has a massive majority and can do what it wants.”
But unlike on previous occastions, this time Downing Street is determined not to be caught off-guard by a backlash – especially if it intends to break its manifesto pledge and raise income tax.
MPs urge Reeves to raise gambling taxes despite ‘scaremongering’ from firms
The chancellor should ignore “scaremongering” by gambling firms and raise taxes on the £11bn sector’s most harmful products, MPs on the influential Treasury select committee have said.
In a scathing report, delivered as Rachel Reeves’s Treasury team is finalising her second budget as chancellor, MPs accused the sector of hiding its more “insidious” products behind traditional activities such as horse racing and seaside arcades.
They urged Reeves to impose higher duties on the most addictive products, such as high-street slot machines and online casino games, both of which are growing rapidly.
Support for tapping these segments of the industry for much-needed revenue echoes similar calls from thinktanks and Gordon Brown, who has said gambling taxes should rise by £3bn to fund an end to the two-child benefit limit.
Gambling firms have fought tooth and nail against any increase, including through a summer charm offensive with Labour MPs. But privately, industry figures believe the chancellor is likely to opt for a more moderate increase, aimed at raising between £1bn and £1.5bn.
As well as recommending duty increases, the committee also took aim at the industry’s chief lobbyist for a “staggering” claim that gambling firms do not cause harm.
In what the committee chair, Meg Hillier, called an “extraordinary moment” during an evidence session last week, the Betting & Gaming Council’s (BGC) chief executive, Grainne Hurst, repeatedly denied that gambling was linked to social ills.
“You feel a moment in a room sometimes where everyone’s jaw drops,” said Hillier. “A couple of us pushed to ask if she was sure she was saying that. But she doubled down.”
In a relatively short report, published just over a week after Hurst’s testimony, the committee explicitly linked tax rates to addiction, urging the chancellor to reflect gambling products’ differing risks in tax policy.
At present, multiple rates of duty are applied to different products.
Green party leader Zack Polanski joined British Library staff on the picket line in London today, as workers went on strike over pay.
In an update on X, alongside a picture of Polanski standing next to a crowd of striking staff members with placards and PCS union flags, he wrote:
Solidarity with @pcs_union workers at the British Library. 300 workers on strike. Some of them having to take second jobs or taking out loans just to be able to survive.
A pay ‘award’ below inflation is a pay cut. Unacceptable. Solidarity - and keep organising!
Lammy promises 'tough new release checks' as released prisoner arrested
Justice secretary David Lammy has commented on the arrest of Brahim Kaddour-Cherif.
“We inherited a prison system in crisis and I’m appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing. That’s why I’ve ordered tough new release checks, launched an investigation, and started overhauling archaic prison systems,” he posted on X.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick earlier tweeted a graph showing the increase in mistaken releases of violent and sexual offenders this year.
In a reply to Lammy, Jenrick said: “That’s one down - where are the other 262 prisoners that have been accidentally released? And how many prisoners have been mistakenly released this year? Calamity Lammy is hiding an even bigger scandal.”
Updated
Police Scotland has apologised to a prominent women’s rights campaigner as the force confirmed it is satisfied no crime was committed in an incident at a demonstration outside Holyrood, PA reports.
Susan Smith, co-director of For Women Scotland – the group which successfully took the Scottish Government to court over the legal definition of a woman – was at an event outside the Scottish Parliament in September where there was a confrontation with a counter-protester.
Smith was reported to police over claims of damage to a rainbow umbrella belonging to the counter-protester.
Police Scotland has now confirmed it is satisfied no crime was committed and have also apologised to her.
“We have completed our review into this incident and are now satisfied that no crime has been committed,” a Police Scotland spokesperson said. “We have written to those involved to inform them of this decision.”
Footage captured by Sky News shows the moment a convicted sex offender who was released from prison by mistake a week ago was apprehended in Finsbury Park, north London.
The footage, posted on X, shows a reporter asking a man on the street if he is Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, the prisoner who was accidentally freed on 29 October from Wandsworth prison.
The man tells the reporter he is a different person, before police move in and arrest him.
Police then handcuff him, telling him: “You’re going to be placed under arrest on suspicion of being wanted ... because you look identical to the person released from custody. We’re arresting you to prevent your disappearance from location and to prevent any further harm to individuals by your release.”
Before he was put in the back of a police van, Kaddour-Cherif turned to those gathered and said: “Look at the justice of the UK they release people by mistake after this they ‘ah ah ah’, it’s not my fucking fault.”
Updated
In a special, bonus episode of Politics Weekly, Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey sit down with Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon for a frank conversation about her time in office and the future of nationalist politics.
Nothing is off the table: her leadership, Covid, the gender row that dogged her final days in office and the alleged financial fraud at the SNP. You can listen to the podcast at the link below:
Updated
The Metropolitan Police said in an update on social media:
Officers have arrested Brahim Kaddour-Cherif who was released in error from HMP Wandsworth on October 29.
Cherif was spotted by a member of the public in Blackhorse Lane, Islington just before 11.30am. Officers responded immediately and he was arrested.
Here is the full Guardian news story on this latest update:
A convicted sex offender who was released from prison by mistake a week ago is back in custody.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, from Algeria, was accidentally freed on 29 October from Wandsworth prison, in south London. He was arrested in Islington on Friday, the Metropolitan police said.
A manhunt for Kaddour-Cherif, who also has convictions for theft, was launched by the Met. The force expressed frustration that he had had a “six-day head start” because the mistake was only reported to the Met a week later, on 4 November.
Kaddour-Cherif was identified as an overstayer five years ago, but had not been removed from the UK. When he was mistakenly freed from prison, he had been serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal.
He was convicted for indecent exposure in November 2024, when he was given an 18-month community order and placed on the sex offender register for five years.
It is understood Kaddour-Cherif has not applied for asylum, and was in the initial stages of being deported for overstaying his visa when he was let out.
He entered the UK on a visitor visa in 2019, but was flagged as an automatic case of having overstayed on 6 February 2020.
According to the Met, Kaddour-Cherif uses other variations of his first name, including Ibrahim, and has links to Westminster and Tower Hamlets.
Mistakenly released prisoner Brahim Kaddour-Cherif arrested in Islington, say Met police
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, the 24-year-old Algerian sex offender accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth, has been arrested in Islington, north London, the Metropolitan Police said.
The Met police have previously said they were only told about his release on Tuesday and expressed frustration over his “six-day head start”.
The accidental release of Kaddour-Cherif and William Smith, usually known as Billy, intensified pressure upon David Lammy, who last week had announced a checklist to ensure prisoners were not freed in error after the release of Hadush Kebatu on 24 October.
Smith handed himself back in on Thursday.
Updated
Attacks on mosques in the UK have soared in recent months, the government’s Islamophobia monitoring partner has said, with more than 40% of incidents featuring British or English flags and Christian nationalist symbols or slogans.
In the past three months, a mosque was set alight in East Sussex; in Merseyside the windows of a mosque were shot with an air gun while children were inside; in Greater Manchester, a paving slab was thrown at a window; and in Glasgow, a window was smashed with a metal pole.
Data compiled by the British Muslim Trust (BMT) shows that between July and October, 25 mosques across Britain were targeted in 27 attacks – more than a quarter of which were violent or destructive. Other incidents included graffiti and the affixing of crosses and flags. Three mosques were targeted repeatedly.
The BMT said 40% of incidents included the use of British and English flags or symbols and slogans including “Christ is king” and “Jesus is king” in a Christian nationalist context, reflecting how the hard right had attempted to weaponise Christian symbolism and idioms.
In January, before the period examined in the data, there were seven attacks in London followed by a period of relative calm. Incidents across the country escalated in the summer – from one in July to eight in August, rising to nine in September and a further nine in October, the BMT said.
The BMT was appointed by the government in July to track and respond to anti-Muslim hatred across the UK. Its report, A Summer of Division, has been seen by the Guardian.
August marked a clear shift, with incidents evolving from “single acts of vandalism to coordinated symbolic intimidation and violent attacks – and repeat targeting, signalling a sustained increase in both scale and intent”, the report says.
Close Starmer ally Ben Nunn appointed as Rachel Reeves’s chief of staff
One of Keir Starmer’s closest allies has been appointed as Rachel Reeves’s chief of staff in an effort to further strengthen ties between Downing Street and the Treasury, the Guardian understands.
Ben Nunn, who worked with the prime minister in opposition and is one of his most trusted advisers, will begin his new role with immediate effect.
He was previously the chancellor’s media special adviser and had been closely involved in preparations for the budget later this month, in which Reeves is expected to put up income tax in a breach of a Labour manifesto promise.
Those plans are understood to have been agreed by the budget board, a group of advisers from across Downing Street and the Treasury who meet regularly to discuss the chancellor’s options.
In his new role, Nunn, 38, will play a key role linking the two operations, having worked closely with both senior politicians, becoming one of Starmer’s few trusted allies at Westminster.
A senior Downing Street figure said:
Ben is highly respected across government and this new role is a testament to that. As chief of staff, he’ll be the bridge between No 10 and No 11 and a close confidante to the prime minister.
Nunn is understood to have had discussions with the prime minister and the chancellor over the autumn about taking on a more senior role in government. At one point the options included a post in No 10. He will work now closely with Starmer and his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, as well as the chancellor.
The leader of Highland council has accused the UK government of “disrespect” over its handling of plans to house asylum seekers in an army barracks in Inverness city centre.
The Home Office recently announced proposals to house asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks as well as similar army accommodation in Sussex as part of their drive to move people out of hotels which have been the target of much far-right protest activity in recent months.
But at a special meeting of Highland council on Thursday, the Home Office was heavily criticised for failing to engage with local leaders and community groups, while council leader Raymond Bremner disputed claims by Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander that the authority had been consulted on the plans. He said:
There has been no real engagement as far as I’m concerned, and trying to get clarification has been a challenging process to say the least.
At the meeting, councillors also emphasised that the Highlands was a welcoming place for refugees, but also questioned whether “a town centre location in the north of Scotland in the middle of winter” was the most appropriate venue.
Opposition leader Alasdair Christie echoed these concerns, saying that in his 30 years as a councillor he had never seen “a situation where central government has kept an authority in the dark so much”.
From mid-December, there will be weekly arrivals of about 60 people, up to 300 men aged 18 to 65 years of age in total, after initial screening checks.
A Home Office spokesperson said:
We are working closely with local authorities, property partners and across government so that we can accelerate delivery.
'We've got to show leadership' on tackling climate change says Starmer as he attends Cop30
Prime minister Keir Starmer said that action is needed to tackle climate change but that it also presents a “huge opportunity” for the green economy, as he attended the UN Cop30 climate conference in Brazil.
In a video posted to his X account, Starmer said the UK was “really stepping up” at the conference and referred to a number of green economy jobs in Great Yarmouth, Belfast and Manchester that he had recently announced. Starmer said:
Today is the first day of Cop and the UK is really stepping up here. I’m here as prime minister [and] we have the Prince of Wales here, and what we’re determined to show is that climate change is for real. It impacts all of us – you may remember the flooding in Sussex we had this year, also the wildfires in Scotland – so it impacts us all, we’ve got to act, we’ve got to show leadership.
But also, it’s a huge opportunity; we already have 400,000 jobs in the green economy, green jobs, whether that’s [in] energy or elsewhere … so, [we are] stepping up to the challenge, taking the opportunities.
According to the prime minister’s office, Starmer will set out how clean energy is “the economic opportunity of the 21st century – with over £50bn of investment into UK clean energy industries announced since last year and 800,000 jobs expected by the end of the decade” in a speech at the conference.
Updated
Rachel Reeves has unnecessarily blocked her options of what to include in her budget, writes Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, the chief executive of the New Economics Foundation and author of Power to the People in this Guardian Opinion piece:
Updated
Ed Davey has called for Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, to give evidence before the US Congress and UK parliament over his links to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and his victims.
In a post on X, the Liberal Democrat leader wrote:
It’s right Andrew Mountbatten Windsor appears before US Congress over his links to Epstein and his victims. He should also give evidence to our parliament. The public deserve answers and full transparency about this scandal.
Davey’s comments came as a US congressional panel investigating Epstein wrote to Mountbatten Windsor to ask that he submit to questioning as part of its investigation into Epstein’s criminal operations.
In a letter published on Thursday, California congressman Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, requested that King Charles III’s younger brother help with its inquiry.
Updated
Kemi Badenoch to relaunch exclusive ‘advisory board’ for high-value donors
Kemi Badenoch is relaunching the Conservative party’s “advisory board” for high-value donors in a different guise, the Guardian has learned.
The Tory leader has drawn up plans to reinstate the exclusive group, which provided top donors with regular direct access to senior ministers, according to two people briefed on the plans.
In 2021, the Conservative party’s advisory board found itself at the centre of a “cash for access” storm after it emerged that its members had regular meetings and calls with Boris Johnson, the prime minister at the time, and Rishi Sunak, the then chancellor.
One donor, Mohamed Amersi, told the media that some members of the board had given the party upwards of £250,000 a year. It was quietly wound up in subsequent years after the controversy.
Badenoch’s decision to relaunch the board is a sign of her efforts to keep money flowing into the party’s coffers. Despite concerns, donations have held up in the year since the Tories experienced their worst-ever election defeat.
Party officials are still deciding what the advisory board will be named in its new iteration. It is likely to grant top donors access to Badenoch and shadow cabinet members, giving them the ability to argue for party policy to protect their interests.
There are fears inside the Tory fundraising team that Labour’s policies, including the crackdown on non-dom tax status, are driving super-rich donors out of the UK.
A Conservative party spokesperson declined to comment.
Updated
UK house prices rise at fastest rate since January 2025
UK house prices rose at their fastest pace since January, a leading property index shows, with demand improving despite ongoing market uncertainty over likely tax changes in this month’s budget.
Prices increased by 0.6% month-on-month in October, pushing the average cost of a UK home to a record high of £299,862, according to Halifax.
It marked a reversal from an unexpected 0.3% drop in prices recorded in September and was stronger than the 0.1% monthly increase forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. On an annual basis, house prices also rose 1.9%, with that figure also shooting past forecasts for a 1.5% rise.
“Demand from buyers has held up well coming into autumn, despite a degree of uncertainty in the market, with the number of new mortgages being approved recently hitting its highest level so far this year,” said Amanda Bryden, the head of mortgages at Halifax, which is part of the wider Lloyds Banking Group.
However, affordability continues to be a challenge, with many buyers opting for smaller deposits and longer terms to help make the numbers work.
Although average fixed rates on mortgages continue to hover around 4%, and are likely to ease further in the coming months, record-level property prices continue to make moving “feel like a stretch” for many prospective homebuyers, Bryden said.
“Rising costs for everyday essentials are also squeezing disposable incomes, which affects how much people are willing or able to spend on a new property,” she added. “Even so, while there has been some volatility, the market has proven resilient over recent months.”
October’s 0.6% rise suggests buyers have been willing to look past jitters over potential tax rises in Rachel Reeves’s budget on 26 November. The Guardian reported in August that the chancellor was considering replacing stamp duty with a new levy on the sale of homes worth more than £500,000.
Former prison governor John Podmore told BBC Breakfast the prison and probation system is “utterly broken”.
On mistaken releases he said: “It’s symptomatic of a broken prison and probation system. It’s been broken for a long time – and we shouldn’t be saying it’s in crisis or it’s struggling, it is utterly broken.
“We can talk about resources until the cows come home, but you don’t give resources to a failing institution, you stop that institution failing.
“People have said to me, ‘should they make David Lammy go?’ and I’ve said ‘no, he should do his job’.
“And his job is to set the policy, set the budget, set the direction for the prison and probation service and appoint people to deliver on that leadership. And if they’re not delivering, and they clearly aren’t, he should be having them before him and asking them why.”
The shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, said on X that the mistaken release of Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu is “just the tip of the iceberg”.
Referring to a story in the Telegraph that 90 prisoners may have been released by mistake, Jenrick said: “The accidental release of the Epping sex offender was just the tip of the iceberg.
“Lammy refused to provide the full facts, but thanks to the @telegraph the scale of the chaos has been uncovered. Where are these dangerous criminals @davidlammy?!”
One of two prisoners mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth handed himself back in yesterday.
William ‘Billy’ Smith, 35, handed himself in to the prison in south-west London yesterday.
He was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon crown court on Monday but was mistakenly released the same day, prompting a three-day manhunt. Video shows the moment he handed himself in.
Three prisoners have been charged with murder after a child killer was found dead in his cell, PA reports.
The Prison Service confirmed the man was 33-year-old Kyle Bevan, who was jailed for life for murdering his partner’s two-year-old daughter Lola James in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in 2020.
Bevan was set to spend at least 28 years behind bars for the savage killing after inflicting catastrophic head injuries on the toddler during a six-hour attack.
Officers were called to category A HMP Wakefield at 8.25am on Wednesday, West Yorkshire Police said.
Mark Fellows, 45, Lee Newell, 56, and David Taylor have been charged with murder, the force said. They were remanded into custody and are due to appear at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The incident comes less than a month after paedophile singer Ian Watkins was stabbed to death at the same prison.
Last night David Lammy posted a video on X saying he was “as shocked as anyone” that prison release errors were happening at this rate.
In the video the justice secretary said he was determined to get a grip on it:
“I’ve already brought in stronger release checks with more direct accountability.
“And I’ve asked dame Lynne Owens to conduct an independent review to look at action we can take going forward.
“Today I’ve convened prison governors to understand what further support they need to stop these errors.”
Minister defends Lammy amid pressure over mistaken prisoner releases
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of UK politics as questions continue over David Lammy’s handling of a mistaken prisoner release, with a sex offender still on the run.
The deputy prime minister and justice secretary has been criticised over the freeing of Algerian Brahim Kaddour-Cherif from Wandsworth prison. Yesterday the deputy prime minister and justice secretary said the government has “a mountain to climb” to tackle the prisons crisis and insisted he was “not equipped with all the detail” when questioned in parliament on Wednesday about the issue.
But there has been apparent disquiet from colleagues, with The Times quoting anonymous senior ministers as saying he was “cowardly” and guilty of “rank incompetence”.
Keir Starmer, while at the Cop30 summit, backed his deputy by saying it was “right” he was “setting out the facts to the best of his knowledge”. He is travelling back from Brazil today.
Meanwhile Steve Reed dismissed criticism of Lammy from fellow ministers as “anonymous tittle tattle”. The housing secretary told Times Radio:
The problem is we’ve got a broken system, and you are going to see failings when you have a broken system. The key is to make sure we have a digital system so that no prisoner is ever released by mistake.
There is not an acceptable number for [mistaken releases], but the way to fix it is not tittle tattle about David Lammy in the newspapers, it’s to get on and do the work and put in the investment that will digitise the system.
David has already had the prison governors in his office yesterday, I imagine they felt pretty hauled over the coals given what’s been going on, but he was also making sure that they’re getting all the support they need to carry out the much tougher checks that will be required to make sure that the repeats of this are at an absolute minimum.”
Stay with us for all the developments as well as pre-Budget speculation with the new Labour deputy leader, Lucy Powell, saying that Labour should stand by its manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, in a challenge that will put pressure on the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. You can read our story here
