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Politics latest: Lammy to take deputy PMQs - after Reeves refused to rule out tax rises

David Lammy will face a grilling this lunchtime, as he stands in for the prime minister at PMQs. It follows the chancellor refusing to rule out manifesto-breaking tax rises at the budget. Meanwhile, former chancellor George Osborne answers MPs' questions on the UK's finances - follow live.

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Former chancellor George Osborne and former business secretary Vince Cable will give evidence to the Treasury Committee as it looks ahead to the Budget on November 26.
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Lammy to go toe-to-toe with the Tories as he fills in for Starmer at PMQs

David Lammy is to face a grilling this lunchtime as he fills in for the prime minister at PMQs.

The justice secretary, who is also deputy PM, will be representing the government at (deputy) PMQs, while Sir Keir Starmer travels to Belem in Brazil for the COP30 climate summit.

Lammy has stood in at PMQs before, but is familiar taking questions from his role as justice secretary and previously as foreign secretary.

Going up against Lammy for the Conservatives will be James Cartlidge.

The shadow defence secretary will do his best to cross-examine Lammy, with the Tory's leader allocated six questions.

It follows Chancellor Rachel Reeves refusing to rule out manifesto-breaking tax rises at the autumn budget on 26 November, in a wide-ranging breakfast-time speech she delivered yesterday.

It's led senior Tories including the shadow chancellor and the shadow business and trade secretary to call for Reeves to resign if she does so.

DPMQs begins at 12pm, and of course, we'll bring you all the latest right here on the Politics Hub.

Treasury thinks 'working people' earn less than £45,000 - but readers think very differently

Last week, Paste BN obtained an internal definition of "working people" used by the Treasury.

This is important because Labour pledged not to increase the tax burden on working people in its manifesto.

According to the report from deputy political editor Sam Coates, those earning £45,000 or less qualify as "working people".

But when we surveyed readers of Paste BN's Money blog, it was clear the majority had another view.

3,300 people have taken part in the survey - and 79% thought the salary bar for what constitutes a working person was higher than the Treasury's definition.

A further 11% said £100,000, and 18% £75,000.

20% picked the higher rate tax threshold of £50,270.

Just 9% agreed with the £45,000 level the Treasury is apparently using.

12% opted for the median UK salary of £37,430. 

Nvidia boss Jensen Huang to meet Technology Secretary Liz Kendall

By Tim Baker, political reporter

Nvidia boss Jensen Huang is to meet Technology Secretary Liz Kendall this morning, Paste BN understands.

The US computer hardware company is the biggest supplier of AI chips in the world, and is targeting the UK as a key area for growth.

Huang is in Britain for an address to the Cambridge Union Society which he delivered yesterday evening, and to receive an award at the Queen Elizabeth Prize of Engineering today.

Sir Keir Starmer and his government have also identified AI data centres - specifically in the so-called "AI Growth Zones" (AIGZ) as a potential area of growth for the UK economy.

Any big announcement, including investment, could help the Treasury ahead of next month's budget.

However, concerns about the impact of an increased adoption of AI - including around job losses - have been raised, especially as the government wants to find £45bn in the civil service using the technology.

Nvidia announced a £2 billion investment in the UK in June at a meeting with the prime minister, and in September Huang told Paste BN the UK was on the cusp of a new industrial revolution.

"This is the home of the origins of artificial intelligence and some of the brightest minds in AI are here," he told Paste BN business and economics correspondent Gurpreet Narwan earlier this year.

Nvidia recently became the first company to be valued at $5trn (£3.8trn), more than the UK's annual GDP.

Kendall has only been technology secretary for around two months, following the cabinet reshuffle in the wake of Angela Rayner's resignation.

Mayfield report into ill-health leaving thousands out of work is 'a good piece of work'

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."

Reeves 'should have to resign for lots of reasons', says Griffiths

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."

Tories accuse Labour of 'education vandalism' following curriculum review

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".

Biggest schools shake-up in England in a decade announced

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".

Can AI software predict how a politician will answer? We put it to the test

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.

Green Party leader would fly to COP30 despite personal ban on flying

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 storm that killed at least 28 in Jamaica should be known as 'Hurricane Labour', says Polanski

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.