David Lammy has recorded a pooled interview about the prisoner release mistakes reveaved after yesterday’s PMQs.There were three main lines in the excerpt available so far.Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, defended his decision to dodge questions at PMQs yesterday about whether there had been another prisoner let out by mistake.The Conservatives have strongly criticised him for this, with Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, saying that Lammy’s non-answer was “dishonest”, and Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, saying Lammy’s PMQs performance was “a disgrace” and “a dereliction of duty”.(See 9.

34am.) Lammy was asked if he knew of another asylum seeker being released by mistake; at the time he knew that a foreign prisoner had been released earlier, but it is claimed that he did not know the full details of the offender, who turned out not to be an asylum seeker, it later transpired.Asked if he accepted that he should have given MPs more information, Lammy replied:I first found out about this [the prisoner release error] on Wednesday morning.I was in the department, both learning from officials, but also preparing for prime minister’s questions.At the dispatch box I did not have all of the details.

That detail was actually released just later after I had finished at prime minister’s questions.I took the judgment that is important when updating the house and the country about serious matters like this that you have all of the details.I was not equipped with all of the detail.And the danger is you end up misleading the house and the general public.So that is the judgment I took.

I think it’s the right judgment,(It is hard to see how Lammy would have misled the Commons if he had stuck to telling MPs what facts he did know, and what he was still waiting to learn,)Lammy claimed the foreign prisoner referenced at PMQs (Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian), had been released by mistake from Wandsworth prison before the extra prisoner release checks ordered by Lammy were introduced,Lammy introduced those checks after the former asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford prison,Lammy said:We have found out that the release that has caused concern this week was actually before I introduce those checks just a few weeks ago, following the release of Kebatu.

And the other prisoner [Billy Smith] was a court mistake, not in fact a prison mistake.This is odd because the MoJ announced on 27 October that those new checks were coming into force “from today”, but yesterday it was reported that Kaddour-Cherif had been let out by accident on 29 October.I have asked the MoJ for an explanation.Lammy said that prison release mistakes had been a problem “for a generation” and that the government had “a mountain to climb” in terms of sorting it out.He said:The truth is, I’ve been in post two months.

The rate of release by error is too high.It has to come down.That’s why I’ve asked Dame Lynne Owens to look at this, a former deputy Met commissioner, to review this and come back to me as quickly as she’s able to do.And this is a paper-based system that obviously involves human error.We had 800 errors under the last government.

This is now gone on for a generation,Our prison system is in crisis,So we have to bear down on this,But we have a mountain to climb,Lucy Powell, Labour’s new deputy leader, has said the government should stand by its manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, amid signs that it may be preparing to break that promise.

Senior MPs who were the architects of the Labour welfare rebellion are to revive a powerful caucus on the party’s soft left to influence the budget and beyond, in a move likely to further unnerve No 10.Lex Greensill has accused Kemi Badenoch of “interfering” in an insolvency case “for political ends” as the last Conservative government sought to protect David Cameron from scrutiny for his involvement in a lobbying scandal.David Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, has defended his decision to dodge questions at PMQs yesterday about whether there had been another prisoner let out by mistake.(See 3.50pm.

)Keir Starmer has told the Cop30 summit that the “consensus is gone” on climate change while insisting Britain is “all in” on net zero.(See 1.48pm.)Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has suspended another member of its “flagship” county council in Kent as it held its first full meeting since the party’s councillors were thrown into crisis by a leaked meeting revealing bitter internal tensions.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.

Kemi Badenoch has criticised Keir Starmer for going to the Cop30 climate conference, claiming that he should have stayed in the UK to focus on domestic politics.As Starmer delivered a speech at the summit, Badenoch said:Keir Starmer has gone to a conference where the four biggest polluters – the US, India, China, Russia - are not there.That means that nothing serious is going to be happening.If those four countries aren’t doing anything, Keir Starmer should focus on fixing the domestic problems we have in our country first.Badenoch also suggested that Starmer was the “only person” from a “serious country at that conference”, where other European leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron are also expected to attend.

Asked to respond, a Labour source said:The prime minister has travelled to Cop with the Prince of Wales to show UK leadership on the world stage, and delivering jobs and opportunity across Britain,” they said.The leader of the opposition should look the 400,000 UK workers in clean energy in the eye and tell them she wants to throw it all away.And for what? Old, rusty arguments stuck in the past that she’s forced to adopt because her dwindling number of supporters demand it.Richard Adams is the Guardian’s education editor.England’s teaching unions have written to education secretary Bridget Phillipson warning that the pay award she recently offered – worth 6.

5% over three years – will be swiftly eroded by inflation and cause more teachers to quit the profession.The joint letter, from the general secretaries of the National Education Union, the NASUWT, the National Association of Head Teachers and the Association of School and College Leaders, says they are “extremely concerned” that Philipson’s offer relies on over-optimistic inflation forecasts and will not be funded by government, meaning it will eat into school budgets.The unions have urged Phillipson to resubmit evidence supporting “fully funded, above-inflation awards” to the independent body that makes pay recommendations.The letter says:Any award that is not fully funded will inevitably result in further cuts to staffing and essential provision, undermining the ability of schools to deliver high-quality education for all pupils …Over a million pupils are already taught in classes of more than 30, the highest number in a generation.Daniel Kebede, the NEU’s general secretary, added:The government has created anxiety amongst the profession by putting forward evidence that suggests a below-inflation pay award that is to be funded out of existing budgets.

We expected better from Labour.The years of pay cuts since 2010 have already caused severe recruitment and retention problems and hit teacher living standards hard.Further pay cuts will make things even worse.David Lammy has recorded a pooled interview about the prisoner release mistakes reveaved after yesterday’s PMQs.There were three main lines in the excerpt available so far.

Lammy, the deputy PM and justice secretary, defended his decision to dodge questions at PMQs yesterday about whether there had been another prisoner let out by mistake.The Conservatives have strongly criticised him for this, with Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, saying that Lammy’s non-answer was “dishonest”, and Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, saying Lammy’s PMQs performance was “a disgrace” and “a dereliction of duty”.(See 9.34am.) Lammy was asked if he knew of another asylum seeker being released by mistake; at the time he knew that a foreign prisoner had been released earlier, but it is claimed that he did not know the full details of the offender, who turned out not to be an asylum seeker, it later transpired.

Asked if he accepted that he should have given MPs more information, Lammy replied:I first found out about this [the prisoner release error] on Wednesday morning,I was in the department, both learning from officials, but also preparing for prime minister’s questions,At the dispatch box I did not have all of the details,That detail was actually released just later after I had finished at prime minister’s questions,I took the judgment that is important when updating the house and the country about serious matters like this that you have all of the details.

I was not equipped with all of the detail.And the danger is you end up misleading the house and the general public.So that is the judgment I took.I think it’s the right judgment.(It is hard to see how Lammy would have misled the Commons if he had stuck to telling MPs what facts he did know, and what he was still waiting to learn.

)Lammy claimed the foreign prisoner referenced at PMQs (Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian), had been released by mistake from Wandsworth prison before the extra prisoner release checks ordered by Lammy were introduced.Lammy introduced those checks after the former asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford prison.Lammy said:We have found out that the release that has caused concern this week was actually before I introduce those checks just a few weeks ago, following the release of Kebatu.And the other prisoner [Billy Smith] was a court mistake, not in fact a prison mistake.This is odd because the MoJ announced on 27 October that those new checks were coming into force “from today”, but yesterday it was reported that Kaddour-Cherif had been let out by accident on 29 October.

I have asked the MoJ for an explanation,Lammy said that prison release mistakes had been a problem “for a generation” and that the government had “a mountain to climb” in terms of sorting it out,He said:The truth is, I’ve been in post two months,The rate of release by error is too high,It has to come down.

That’s why I’ve asked Dame Lynne Owens to look at this, a former deputy Met commissioner, to review this and come back to me as quickly as she’s able to do.And this is a paper-based system that obviously involves human error.We had 800 errors under the last government.This is now gone on for a generation.Our prison system is in crisis.

So we have to bear down on this.But we have a mountain to climb.Richard Adams is the Guardian’s education editor.The government’s spending plans are leaving it struggling to improve conditions in England’s schools, such as addressing the crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision or recruiting more teachers, according to a new Institute for Government report.According to the IfG, it will be “extremely difficult for the government to meet its education priorities within the budget it has set” over the coming parliament.

The report finds that two-thirds of state special schools are now operating above capacity, while spending on Send has risen from £6.7bn in 2012-13 to £11.1bn in 2025-26, a 66% increase.Education, health and care plans (EHCPs), at the centre of the government’s likely plans to reform Send provision, cost £1,000 more on average than the funding provided to meet the needs described.Amber Dellar, the report’s author, said:With no clear strategy to reform the Send system or tackle workforce shortages, the government is struggling to keep its education priorities on track.

That leaves children with special educational needs and those from low-income backgrounds without the support they need, as gaps in attendance and outcomes widen.Patrick Butler is the Guardian’s social policy editor.Gordon Brown has renewed his call for the two-child benefit cap to be fully abolished, calling it a “stain” on the UK’s reputation and warning ministers off potential compromise measures that would keep the policy in place.The former Labour prime minister, speaking at a reception in London to mark the 60th anniversary of the Child Poverty Action Group charity, said the policy should be “banished from the statute book as soon as possible”.Brown said:It is the two-child rule that every year is responsible for the numbers of children in poverty rising … Without abolishing the two-child rule the government will not meet its target to have poverty coming down at the end of the parliament, lower than at the beginning.

The government faces a crucial decision over whether to retain the policy – much hated by Labour MPs as a turbo driver of family hardship and relic of Tory austerity – when it publishes its child poverty reduction strategy in the next few weeks.The Treasury is concerned about the £3.5bn a year cost and is understood to be considering measures to keep the policy in place while watering down its impact such as by extending the limit to three children.Brown said only full abolition would effectively reverse the upward trend of child poverty.There are 4.

5 million children in the UK in relative poverty – a figure currently expected to rise to a historic high by the end of the decade.Child Poverty Action Group was created by campaigners in 1965 to push for increases to family allowances and has become a leading voice in the welfare rights and anti-poverty movement.Keir Starmer will admit the “consensus is gone” on climate change but insist Britain is “all in” on net zero in a speech to the UN Cop30 summit, PA Media reports.Addressing the climate change conference in Belém, the city gateway to the Brazilian Amazon basin, Starmer is expected to say:Ten years ago, the world came together in Paris … united in our determination to tackle the climate crisis.A consensus based on science that is unequivocal