Andrew Griffiths has said a report by businessman Sir Charlie Mayfield into ill-health and disability leaving thousands of people out of work is "a good piece of work".

The shadow business and trade secretary says it's a "big report" but that "Charlie is someone who's been in and around the government and done many of these reports".

Mayfield is the former chairman of the John Lewis Partnership.

Griffiths adds: "There's been an issue for a while, and it's amplified at the moment about worklessness. 

"I am worried about the generation of jobless, young people finding it really hard to get into the workplace."

He then goes on to attack the government's Employment Rights Bill, which he says "goes in the wrong direction".

Griffiths adds: "I think we need to give employers more opportunity and reasons to hire young people, and that, without getting into the details of it, will put up all sorts of barriers and create incentives for them not to take a chance when they're giving young people a job. 

"And then there's a piece of this about welfare reform as well. 

"I think most people who looked at this would acknowledge there is a spectrum from people with very profound conditions that we ought to support, for those that are more at the anxious end of the spectrum, where actually being in the workforce, being around other people, getting the confidence that you can get through work is probably the best thing for them, rather than being left to moulder on their sofa."

But he adds that if politicians "don't take action" to address the number of young people out of work and education, "then this will continue to grow".

"So I think we do need to take action," he says. 

"Again there's not just one thing, but there's an element of making it a little bit harder to get access to welfare for some cases, more support for others, and definitely looking at the role of employers and making sure you don't have the unintended consequences of a really big red tape bill that says to them, we won't hire people."

Andrew Griffiths has said Rachel Reeves should resign and has warned that if she announces manifesto-breaking taxes at the budget, this will "erode the level of trust in politics".

It follows the shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride calling for her to go if she raises tax at the budget on 26 November, after her speech yesterday.

Asked if he thinks Reeves would have to resign, the shadow business and trade secretary says: "I think she should have to resign for lots of reasons, to be honest. 

"I think fundamentally, if she puts up taxes... she's lost control of the economy. To control the economy, you've got to be able to control public spending, and Labour tried a little bit of welfare reform. 

"They weren't able to deliver that and so what putting up taxes, despite it being a central manifesto pledge, would say is: I can't do anything else, I can't execute a plan to control public spending."

The Conservatives have said that "education vandalism will be the lasting legacy of the prime minister and Bridget Phillipson".

It follows the educational secretary announcing the biggest shake-up of the curriculum in England in a decade.

Changes include cutting the overall volume of exams at GCSE level by 10%, introducing mandatory citizenship lessons in primary schools, and lessons on AI and being able to identify disinformation.

Primary pupils will also learn more about the fundamentals of money.

Reacting to the curriculum review, Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, said: "Labour's idea of boosting social mobility is to teach primary school children about climate change instead of making sure they can read, write and add up properly.

"These reforms will mean children moving towards an 'enrichment entitlement' and see fewer children studying history and languages post-14.

"This will leave children with a weaker understanding of our national story and hide standards slipping in schools."

The Liberal Democrats are also critical of the changes, with the party's education spokesperson, Munira Wilson, saying that the "fiscal and practical feasibility of these changes have not been addressed".

She added: "Headteachers, who are already having to cut their budgets to the bone will be asking one simple question - 'how am I supposed to pay for this?'

"Liberal Democrats are calling for Labour to be honest with schools. To admit that without a costed plan and proper workforce strategy, these reforms will stretch teachers even further and fail our children."

The Lib Dems admitted that it's a "welcome step" for Labour to embrace "a broader curriculum with a clear focus on arts and digital education".

But Wilson said scrapping "instead of broadening the Ebacc is not the right move".

By Anjum Peerbacos, education reporter

The government has announced it will cut GCSE exam time by up to three hours per student, in the biggest school shake-up in England in a decade.

The final report from a curriculum and assessment review - commissioned by Labour last year, and the biggest of its kind for a decade - recommends cutting the overall volume of exams at Key Stage 4 by 10%, ruling the current amount as "excessive".

It also calls for the introduction of new maths and English tests in Year 8 to help teachers identify learning gaps sooner, the addition of mandatory citizenship lessons in primary schools, and a major overhaul of the Key Stage 2 grammar, punctuation, and spelling test.

AI among new subjects

The reforms to the national curriculum will also include a focus on AI and data science for post-16 students.

For the first time, primary-aged children will be taught how to spot fake news and identify misinformation and disinformation. This will help them develop their critical thinking skills and protect them when online.

Primary pupils will also learn more about the fundamentals of money. The review recognises that children are now consumers often before they reach secondary school.

A new compulsory reading test in Year 8 will be introduced. This will be in addition to a writing assessment in Year 6, as well as SATs, to identify pupils who need extra support.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the changes "will help young people step boldly into the future, with the knowledge to achieve and the skills to thrive as the world around us continues to rapidly evolve".

This morning, the education secretary has unveiled the new national curriculum for schoolchildren in England - which will now include AI lessons.

That led us to wonder whether AI can predict how a politician will answer.

We put it to the test to see whether Chat GPT could predict what Bridget Phillipson would say about her defeat in the Labour deputy leadership race to Lucy Powell.

Watch the clip below to see the results.

Zack Polanski would travel by aircraft to the annual COP30 event if invited despite a personal ban on flying as this "would be a different circumstance".

The leader of the Greens is asked about his personal choices to not fly or drive, and whether this would prevent him from travelling if he was prime minister one day. 

But Polanski says he makes those choices because "I have the power and the privilege to make those choices".

"It's not about individual responsibility," he adds. "This is about government and big business making that system change rather than pointing it in."

He also insists his decisions, including embracing veganism, are not about being "holier than thou".

The leader of the Greens has said a deadly storm that left at least 28 people dead should have been called "Hurricane Labour".

Zack Polanski is now asked about whether he is hopeful about change happening at COP30 in Brazil this week.

He responds that he doesn't "have any high hopes at all".

He says there have been a growing number of warnings about climate change in recent weeks, but that these have "barely made a headline" as "we've all been paralysed into this kind of fearmongering [that] there's nothing we can do about it".

Polanski continues: "We hold agency and power. And when I say we, I'm talking about the country and the government. 

"If we make sure that the polluter pays, we need to hold fossil fuel companies accountable. 

"It is outrageous that we've just had a hurricane in Jamaica that has killed people and caused mass devastation. 

"Why are we calling it Hurricane Melissa? It should be called Hurricane Shell or at this point it should be called Hurricane Labour, because, actually, we still have a Labour government who are giving fossil fuel subsidies to oil and gas rather than subsidising things like they should be, like train travel."

Challenged that politicising a deadly natural event is "incendiary", he responds by pointing out that Labour is considering giving permission for the Rosebank oil field, which is the UK's largest undeveloped oil field.

He continues: "This is a new oil field where the cumulative carbon emission impact will be the same as 28 of the poorest low income countries in the world. 

"This is sociopathic behaviour if they don't rule it out. 

"So I accept that what I'm saying is strong language, but we need to have stronger language about the climate crisis that is killing people."

But he admits that Labour are not "fully responsible" and points the finger at fossil fuel companies. 

Zack Polanski has said his previous target of scaling up the Greens to 30–40 MPs is "starting to look unambitious".

The Green Party leader says attempting to be prime minister at the next general election is "not for me right now".

But Polanski says that given the party's soaring membership - they now have more members than the Lib Dems and the Conservatives - "things are changing rapidly for me and the Green Party".

He tells Paste BN: "Now, 30 to 40 MPs is starting to look unambitious. 

"I can't give you an exact number yet because we've got to go away, work the numbers and go, 'actually, if we keep growing at this pretty much exponential rate, what are our ambitions at the next general election?' 

"But right now, that isn't being prime minister. It's just making sure we get as big a block of green MPs as possible."

Greens won't work with Starmer or Farage

Pushed on what the Green Party might look like following the next general election, he adds that "we definitely want to hold the balance of power".

He says: "What I want for this country is to make sure that we are taxing wealth more than we're taxing work. 

"I want to make sure we have action on the climate crisis, and I want to bring in proportional representation."

But he rules out going into a coalition with Sir Keir Starmer.

Polanski says: "This is a man who has perpetrated an ongoing genocide in Gaza. He ran on the coattails of Jeremy Corbyn, and I would say he ditched every single pledge he could. So I think the man's proven to be untrustworthy."

He also adds there's "no way I'd do a deal with Nigel Farage".

He's then challenged on who would have to lead the Labour Party for him to work with them.

Polanski responds: "I think Labour membership and people who are thinking about voting Labour in the past are increasingly voting with their feet and moving over to the Green Party anyway."

Sir Sadiq Khan has said people in New York City have chosen "hope" over "fear" in electing Democrat politician Zohran Mamdani. 

The Mayor of London has compared the vote to his own election in London.

Mamdani, 34, defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa to become the city's first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage, and also the youngest in more than a century.

Calling it a "historic campaign", Khan said: "New Yorkers faced a clear choice - between hope and fear - and just like we've seen in London - hope won."

Asked for her reaction to the victory a little earlier, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson congratulated Mamdani on his win.

"It's obviously up to people in New York to decide who they want to represent them," she told Paste BN. "But, I wish him well. 

"It's a wonderful job to have secured."

She added that she doesn't "follow American politics especially closely", but said Mamdani must have clearly fought "a good campaign".

Other UK politicians have also reacted to the win, including Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader, who we'll hear from on Paste BN very shortly.

He said: "Zohran's campaign was his determination to make New York a city everyone can afford to live in. Huge congratulations! 

"His success will resonate throughout the world. A story where no one is left behind. It's time to write that story across England & Wales too."

Today's episode of Politics at Sam and Anne's has just dropped and is available to be streamed now.

PM Keir Starmer flies to the Brazilian rainforest for the COP30 climate conference - a trip he almost biffed - but is it the surge in polling support for the Green Party that may have changed his mind?

He'll join Prince William and the King out in the Amazon – at the same time as considering rolling back on some of the government's climate commitments. 

Back home, Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces criticism over her warnings for the next budget, while she brings in experts to school Labour MPs on how budgets, debts, and deficits actually work.  

And there's a mini recess for Westminster, so Sam and Anne have an extra few days off. They return on Monday. 

You can listen to the episode below or wherever you get your podcasts.