Good morning and welcome back to the Politics Hub this Thursday, 6 November.

A manhunt for not one, but two mistakenly released foreign prisoners continues. 

It follows the revelation that HMP Wandsworth accidentally let out Algerian criminal, Bahim Kaddour-Cherif, last Wednesday.

But the same prison has now confirmed that it also mistakenly freed William Smith, who was serving time for multiple fraud offences, on Monday.

Both men remain at large, while the police are seeking to track them down. 

It's an embarassing moment for the government.

But what compounds this is Justice Secretary David Lammy's handling of the story in the Commons yesterday.

Despite being asked five times if he knew of any foreign criminals being mistakenly released, Lammy refused to answer the question at DPMQs.

It then later turned out he had been informed on Tuesday night, and was in fact aware of the situation, but thought it inappropriate to mention it. 

The Conservatives have called the government a "shambles" and "pathetic" for their handling of the situation.

One person who's not here to answer questions about the case is Sir Keir Starmer, who is currently in Brazil attending the COP30 climate conference. 

MPs are also not sitting today, as parliament is in recess until Tuesday.

But there's still plenty of people causing headaches for the government.

Kemi Badenoch is giving a speech this morning in Staffordshire, where all of yesterday's problems for the government are likely to resurface.

Meanwhile, the National Crime Agency is warning thatpeople traffickers are hiring HGV drivers to smuggle migrants across the Channel.

And the Tony Blair Institute has published some more advice for the chancellor ahead of her autumn budget, saying she must balance tax rises with pro-business reforms. 

Coming up on Paste BN shortly:

• Alex Davies-Jones, the victims minister and minister for violence against women and girls
• Lord Michael Gove, the former cabinet minister
• Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary

Of course, we'll bring you the latest news and analysis throughout the day, right here on the Politics Hub.

We're pausing our live coverage for the day.

But please do join us again in the morning for the latest in politics.

David Lammy responded with the "least bad option" when grilled about accidental release of foreign offenders, former Labour Party advisor Max Wilson has said.

Speaking to Politics Hub's Darren McCaffrey, Wilson said PMQs are "an extremely stressful situation and environment, and David Lammy is not used to doing it, he's stepping in."

On Lammy not addressing the case of Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, Wilkinson said: "If he were to allude to it, that would have then led to more questions, which maybe he wasn't in a position to be able to answer to."

"I think he was faced with only poor options, should we say? And he went with the least bad option, which was to attack the Tory."

But he added: "I can't help but wonder whether that would look as though he hasn't got a grip on the situation." 

Chris Philp says David Lammy should have given an "honest answer" about whether any more foreign offenders had been released from jail in error.

Speaking to Politics Hub's Darren McCaffery, the shadow justice secretary says Lammy is wrong to claim the police did not want him to release the information.

And Philp says it is "pathetic" for Labour to try and blame the Conservatives.

"The Labour government has now been in office for getting on for a year and a half," he says.

"I think it's pretty pathetic to try and for them to try and blame anybody apart from themselves in relation to foreign offenders." 

McCaffery says the Tories cut prison budgets and consequently losing experienced staff might have had consequences.

"Look, we're a year and a half now into this Labour government. This is on their watch. They didn't start in government last week or last month," the shadow home secretary says. 

"We had record numbers of police officers, 149,769, to be precise, and overall crime had fallen by about 50%."

He said the Tory government would do things differently; “Now we've got new leadership. We've got a new leader. We've got a new shadow home secretary, which is me." 

Philp did a stint as a justice minister under Boris Johnson in 2019.

The main difference between the previous government and this one: "My view is that when a foreign national completes their sentence, they should all be immediately removed from the country," Philp outlines, referencing the fact that two of the accidentally released convicts were migrants. 

This relates to the Tory proposal to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, which "will mean we can immediately deport not just some but all foreign offenders as soon as they are eligible for release, and that means this question of accidentally releasing people into the community would not arise."

Philp ends by calling for Lammy "to apologise and get himself back to Parliament."

Angela Rayner made a dramatic return to frontline political debate with a powerful defence of the workers’ rights legislation she championed as deputy prime minister.

In the latest Commons clash during parliamentary "ping pong" with the House of Lords over her Employment Rights Bill, she said it was good for workers and for business.

In only her second speech from the back benches – the first was her resignation statement last month – she accused the Conservatives of wanting to sack workers unfairly.

"This bill was a promise we made to the British public," she declared. "It is our duty to deliver it. And I say to my colleagues on the frontbench that I will be with you every step of the way as we do just that.

"Make no mistakes. The Bill is good for workers and it is good for business. This isn't just the right thing to do, it's the foundation for the high-growth, high-skill economy that the UK needs."

Attacking the Tories for their opposition to the bill, Ms Rayner said: "I cannot believe the party opposite thinks in this day and age we should dismiss people unfairly. I don't understand it.

"On this side of the House, we believe workers deserve fairness, dignity and respect at work, and they deserve it from day one on the job."

Earlier, writing in The Guardian, she said: "This game changing package of measures includes protection from unfair dismissal, strengthened sick pay, bereavement leave, action against sexual harassment at work, a ban on zero-hours contracts, an end to fire and rehire, and a genuine living wage.

"It means family rights such as flexible working and parental leave from day one, stronger protections for pregnant women, and steps to tackle the gender pay gap.

"Taken together, this package would be the single biggest boost to rights at work in a generation."

The Commons debate also saw a fierce clash between shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith and left-wing Labour MP Ian Lavery, who accused him of despising trade unions and working people

The clash came as Mr Griffith hit out at the large number of Labour MPs who receive donations from trade unions and claimed: "Follow the money."

Mr Lavery, the former National Union of Mineworkers president, protested: "The shadow minister has shown how much he absolutely despises the trade union movement and ordinary working people."

Mr Griffith asked him to withdraw, saying it was "not worthy of him", and insisted: "I don't despite trade unions, not a single word I have ever said at the despatch box indicates anything of the sort."

Attacking the bill, Mr Griffith said it was a "clunking fist of regulation dictating and providing perverse incentives, maybe unintended consequences, that mean employers simply won't take a chance on those young people at all".

He claimed it would hurt British businesses and make it harder for vulnerable workers such as young people, disabled people, those over 50, and former prisoners to get a job.

Prolonging "ping pong" again, a Lords amendment, passed last week, to remove day-one protection from unfair dismissal from the bill was rejected by 308 votes to 153, a majority of 155.

Other Lords amendments, on changing the bill's provisions over guaranteed hours for workers and keeping the 50% turnout threshold for industrial action ballots, were also rejected.

Newly appointed employment rights minister Kate Rearden, a former trade union official, told MPs the government was committed to delivering unfair dismissal protection from day one.

"Day one protection from unfair dismissal will not remove the right of businesses to dismiss people who cannot do their job or pass a probation," she said.

"But it will tackle cases of unfair dismissal, where hard-working employees are sacked without a good reason."

She said a six-month qualifying period threshold, proposed by the Lords, left employees exposed to dismissal without good reason in the early months of a new job.

On guaranteed hours, Ms Dearden said the Lords changes would undermine the bill's core aim of ending exploitative contracts and providing security for workers who needed it most.

Michael Burry - the investor portrayed by Christian Bale in the film the Big Short - has revealed he has bet against Nvidia.

Political reporter Tim Baker asked the boss of the world's most valuable company for his reaction.

Watch more below.

The government is "ready to be held to account" for the mistaken release of prisoners, the schools minister has told Paste BN.  

Georgia Gould has been speaking to the Politics Hub tonight.

Asked about the release of foreign sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, she insists the matter is being investigated.

Gould claims Labour inherited a "broken system" from the Conservatives.

She repeats the government claim that Lammy could not say anything suring PMQs before the Met Police had issued a statement.

"It's really important that we always follow due process," Gould said.

Asked if Lammy should go back to the Commons and apologise, Gould says she is sure Parliament will "discuss" the matter.

"We are ready to be held to account on our actions," the minister says.

Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, the 24-year-old foreign offender who was released from HMP Wandsworth by mistake, entered the UK legally in 2019, Paste BN understands.

They came into the country in 2019 on a visit visa, but overstayed and an immigration case was started against them.

Paste BN understands that they deportation proceedings had started against Kaddour-Cherif.

The prison at the centre of the released foreign offender incident today released another offender in error on Monday.

The foreign offender, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, was released last week.

Surrey Police has confirmed that William Smith, 35, was released in error on Monday. He is also known as Billy.

Surrey Police said: "Smith was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court on Monday 3 November, during which he appeared via a live video link from HMP Wandsworth."

A manhunt is under way, with police saying a "number of enquiries" are being carried out "at pace".

Smith is said to have links to Woking but could be anywhere  in Surrey.

Will Forster, the Lib Dem MP for Woking, said: "It's utterly unacceptable that this person was wrongly released, especially on top of Brahim Kaddour-Cherif's mistaken release from the same prison last week."

He added that police have told him there is "no indication of risk to the wider public".

In parliament, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson spoke about the government's planned reforms to the school curriculum.

She said the changes would allow school pupils to deal with the "dark forces" online that promote misinformation.

"To discover the power of persuasion and emotive language in different contexts, and to understand how they can be used not just to educate, but to manipulate - exploited by dark forces online to spread lies and sow division," Phillipson said.

"That's why we're building literacy, preparing young people not to consume passively, but to engage critically, to recognise and reject disinformation."

Here are some of the proposals:

• Publishing a revised curriculum in 2027 to be implemented in 2028.

• A new GCSE curriculum to be prepared for first teaching from 2029.

• New V-level qualifications to be introduced in 2027.

• Scrapping the English Baccalaureate, introduced in 2011. 

• Introducing a statutory reading test for Year 8 students. 

• Training students on media literacy: "Preparing them to tell fact from fiction, truth from lies, right from wrong".

• Reforming the computing curriculum, to "navigate the opportunities and challenges of AI". 

• Introducing lessons in financial literacy to "empower young people to make informed choices about money, saving, and investing".

• Cutting down on exam time by 10%, shaving between 2.5-3 hours in exams for each student.

• New training for reception teachers "to meet our ambition for 90% of children to reach the expected standard in the phonic screening check".

• Increase take-up of triple science, which is less accessible to "young people from disadvantaged backgrounds".

The education secretary described the plans as "bold" and said they will help to evolve the curriculum from "narrow to broad".