George Osborne has called on the Labour government to "re-enter the customs union" and has praised the PM's UK-EU reset.

The former chancellor is speaking to the Commons Treasury Select Committee ahead of the autumn budget later this month.

He said that Brexit has done "damage" to the UK economy, and insisted he is not trying to "relitigate the referendum".

The 'Remainer' said: "It's to say, you could have left the European Union in a very different way, with much less economic damage. 

"And at the time, there was a strong argument from Brexiteers that we could have stayed in the Single Market and stayed in the Customs Union."

The Customs Union is a trade agreement between all EU member states that means there are no customs duties on trade with each other, while it also applies a common external tariff on all trade imported from outside the bloc.

Challenged then whether the current chancellor, Rachel Reeves, should re-join these, Osborne responds: "I personally thought that the Labour government should have rejoined the Customs Union on entering office. 

"It would have put the opposition in an impossible situation today, of, like 'elect us, we're going to come out of the Customs Union'.

"Good luck trying to get elected on that platform.

"But [Labour] didn't. I strongly applaud what the prime minister and others are doing to negotiate a better trade deal with the EU and I would urge them to double down."

He also said that while building a new railway might take 15 years, "getting a better trade deal or service agreement with the EU is something within your gift and the gift of the European negotiator".

He added there are lots of reasons why the UK should "cooperate with out largest trading neighbour without rejoining the EU, without reopening the debate on free movement".

Osborne also called these "pretty easy wins" and "quite straightforward to deliver".

The Liberal Democrats have been calling for the UK to create a new "bespoke" customs union with the EU for months.

Sir Vince Cable has warned that the triple lock on state pensions "makes no long sense in the long run" and will need to be scrapped by future governments.

The former business secretary and ex-Lib Dem leader is speaking to MPs alongside former chancellor George Osborne, ahead of the autumn budget on 26 November. 

He addressed the triple lock, which the Conservatives have insisted they are committed to - and which Reform has left the door opening to changing.

Cable says: "I'm sure this isn't going to happen in three weeks time.

"It [a future government] is going to have to look at things like the triple lock, which is a wonderful idea when we did it [in 2011], and very progressive and lifted a lot of pensioners out of poverty. Very commendable all round. 

"But it's not sustainable and makes no sense in the long run, and you're going to have to move to a double lock or something, and this government or the next one is going to have to grasp the nettle."

George Osborne has told MPs that his proposals to introduce a 'mansions tax' as chancellor during the coalition years collapsed - when then PM David Cameron "overruled" him.

Osborne is speaking to the Commons Treasury Committee, alongside Sir Vince Cable, ahead of the autumn budget on 26 November.

Asked about the proposal for a mansions tax and the difficulties with getting this enacted, Osborne said: "Well, the main challenge was the first lord of the Treasury [the prime minister] overruled me at the time, so it didn't happen.

"We managed to keep it a secret at the time. 

"But what we had agreed, now with the passage of time, inside the coalition and between myself and my Liberal Democrat colleagues... was that we would introduce two additional bands of council tax for high valuable properties.

"I think from memory, [this would target] houses worth more than £2 million, which at the time there were 55,000 in the country, out of 24 million homes - almost all of which were in West London, it has to be said.

"Now represented by Labour MPs," said a smiling Osborne.

"But the crucial thing was," he continued. "The money raised from that was going to be used to reduce the top rate of income tax from 50p [in the pound] to 40%, where it had been throughout the Blair government.

"So, it was going to be a 50% to 40% reduction in come tax and an increased property tax to pay for it."

But as Osborne revealed, that plan was then foiled by his boss.

"I say 'overruled me'. But you know, we're still very good friends and it was never that kind of relationship. 

"He made sound political arguments about why it would be a difficult thing to sell."

Osborne explained that Cameron felt the Tories had promised not to have a mansion tax and that, under pressure from Lib Dem colleagues, it was felt reducing the top income tax rate by 10% would be "too much politically".

"So, we settled on 45%  and a series of small measures, including taxes on hot food [the 'pasty tax'] to pay for it", he said. 

Jokingly asked if Cameron was therefore to blame for the pasty tax, Osborne responded: "Uh, not David Cameron's fault, but it's a good example of tax reform being quite hard when you're trying to raise taxes."

"Tax reform is a great thing, everyone's in favour of tax reform, but you usually create losers so it's generally easier to do tax reform when you're cutting tax, and you can kind of buy off the losers."

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.

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. 

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.

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".