UK Politics

George Osborne has warned Rachel Reeves that it is “difficult to break a manifesto promise”, after she laid the groundwork for sweeping tax rises at the Budget. The former chancellor described the government as “constrained by its promise” after Labour’s general election manifesto pledged to not increase VAT, national insurance or income tax. On Monday, Ms Reeves signalled she would be ready to break the party’s promises, as she committed to putting the national interest above “political expediency”. Mr Osborne told the Treasury committee on Tuesday that he thinks “tax rises are inevitable” but praised Ms Reeves for laying out the rules under which she would make her fiscal decisions. In the session centred around the Budget on November 26, he told the cross-party group of MPs that he believes there should be a mix of tax rises and spending cuts becuase “it will be very one sided and a mistaken budget, if it’s all on tax rises”. ( More

Watch live as David Lammy, Britain’s deputy prime minister, faces Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday (5 November).The justice secretary will face off against the Tories at the despatch box, standing in for Sir Keir Starmer who is travelling to Brazil for the COP30 climate summit. It is his first time filling in for Sir Keir since becoming deputy prime minister.Mr Lammy will be up against Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge, who will stand in for Kemi Badenoch during the weekly grilling.It comes after Rachel Reeves refused to rule out manifesto-breaking tax rises at the Budget on 26 November.During the speech in Downing Street on Tuesday (4 November), Ms Reeves hinted she will take painful decisions later this month as she said “easy answers” to fix economic issues would be “irresponsible”.Mr Lammy is likely to be grilled by the Tories on the tax hikes alluded to by the Chancellor in her speech, which the Tory leader slammed as a “laundry list of excuses”. More

Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy’s company should receive more than £4.6 million in damages after being lied to “repeatedly and determinedly” to invest in a technology start-up, a High Court judge has ruled.Candy Ventures Sarl (CVS), a portfolio of companies founded by Mr Candy, took legal action against Dutch businessman Robert Bonnier over allegations he “lied” to “deceive” it into investing around 7.5 million euro (£6.5 million) in Aaqua BV, which he directs.Barristers for the company told a trial last month that Mr Bonnier claimed the firm would be the “next Facebook” and that Apple and LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) were set to invest one billion US dollars in Aaqua.This led to CVS signing three agreements with Aaqua, which saw it swap shares in podcasting firm Audioboom for “worthless” shares in Aaqua.The company asked a judge to rescind the investment or order Mr Bonnier and Aaqua to pay £5.7 million in damages.On Wednesday, Mr Justice Bright ordered CVS was entitled to £4,623,919 in damages, as well as interest, which must be paid within 28 days.In a 30-page ruling, the judge said: “During the trial, Mr Bonnier confirmed that he was not involved in active negotiations with either Apple or LVMH representatives concerning imminent investment in Aaqua.“Thus, I am satisfied that the representations were false, and he knew them to be false when he made them.“I am satisfied that Mr Bonnier intended CVS to rely on his representation.”He continued: “I am also satisfied that the representations in fact induced CVS to enter into the three agreements, and then to invest in Aaqua.”Mr Bonnier represented himself at trial and, in August, was blocked from defending the claim for breaching court orders.He told the court in London that while he “overstated the prospects of an investment” into Aaqua, he did not believe CVS would “rely” on it.But Mr Justice Bright said: “The only explanation for Mr Bonnier lying so repeatedly and determinedly was in order to secure CVS’s investment.”He continued: “The defendants had no realistic way of attracting investment, or of generating income, except by misrepresenting the position to any potential investor.”At a hearing dealing with the consequences of the judgment on Wednesday, Mr Bonnier failed in a bid to delay having to pay damages.He also told the hearing that he had “personally spent £3.5 million” on the legal battle.In written submissions for the trial, Jonathan Nash KC, for CVS, said that Aaqua, which is now insolvent, was established in the Netherlands in 2020 to develop a “new social media software application”.Mr Bonnier was claimed to have told Mr Candy and Steven Smith, CVS’s executive director, that Apple and LVMH were set to invest in the start-up, which Mr Smith told the court was “completely fundamental” to CVS’s decision to invest.CVS agreed in February 2021 to transfer 1.5 million shares in Audioboom to Aaqua, worth around £6.5 million.It also agreed to purchase 15,000 Aaqua shares, which were believed to be worth around 7.5 million euro (£6.5 million), but Mr Nash said the value of these was “false and artificial, induced, as it was, by Aaqua and Mr Bonnier’s fraud”.Mr Candy, who was announced as Reform UK’s treasurer in December last year, owns 90% of CVS.Giving evidence, he said that Mr Bonnier’s “blatant lies” about Apple and LVMH’s investment were “a very good story”, but stated: “It is disgraceful what has happened.”He said: “I look stupid here now in court, but he was so believable and not just believable to investors, but believable to employees who left high-paid jobs.”He continued: “We want justice for them.”In written submissions, Mr Bonnier admitted “selling his aspirations for Aaqua very enthusiastically, and occasionally perhaps going too far in those efforts”.But he said he had a “proven track record of ‘pulling off the impossible’ and creating substantial value for shareholders”.Following the judgment, Mr Candy said in a statement that the ruling was a “clear vindication”.He said: “It gave me no satisfaction to come to court.“But this was about accountability and the truth and for justice to prevail.“I pursued this claim not only to recover losses, but to expose fraudulent behaviour that has hurt many others who lacked the means to fight back.“The scale of the harm done by Mr Bonnier is enormous and could not simply be ignored.” More

Getting enough teachers for a potential new qualification in AI may be a challenge, experts have warned, after the Government unveiled its planned reforms to the school curriculum.As part of its response to the final report of the curriculum and assessment review, the Government has said it will explore developing a new qualification in data science and AI at level 3.Experts have welcomed the potential new qualification, but warned there may be issues around having enough expert teachers to deliver it.Myles McGinley, managing director of Cambridge OCR, said: “A new qualification focusing on AI and data science could provide real opportunities for young people, and also reflects demand from employers for better skills in these areas.“One of the main challenges here will be capacity, particularly around the supply of expert teachers and examiners.“We know that a shortage of appropriately qualified teachers already affects access to Computer Science.”Alongside the potential new qualification, the Government said the refreshed curriculum will teach AI literacy, and it will replace the current computer science GCSE with a broader computing one.Jon Andrews, head of analysis and director for school system and performance at the Education Policy Institute, also warned that if the Government wants to introduce an AI qualification “it will need to ensure it has a teaching workforce that is skilled and confident enough to teach that content”.He added: “This is part of a wider challenge in the use of AI in education. While schools themselves are working hard to get a grip on the tools they use, both in administration and in teaching and learning, the evidence of effectiveness is currently limited.”In the latest published figures for trainee teacher recruitment in 2024/25, just 37% of the Government’s target for computer science teachers were recruited.However, the National Foundation for Educational Research forecast the DfE would hit 79% of its target for 2025/26.The Government will also strengthen financial education, including by making citizenship compulsory for primary age pupils in key stages 1 and 2 to start this at an early age.MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis welcomed the focus on financial education, but added it will need to come with resources for schools and teacher training.Concepts like calculating interest will first be introduced in maths, the Government said in its response to the review.Interim chief executive of academy trust GLF Schools James Nicholson welcomed the proposals for more opportunity to study AI and finance to help students thrive in future careers.The final report of the review, commissioned by Labour last year, has also recommended the Government cut exam volume at key stage 4 by 10%.The DfE said it would work with the regulator Ofqual and exam boards to reduce GCSE exam time by 2.5 to three hours for the average student, while making sure qualifications remained valid.The review also recommended new maths and English tests to be taken during year 8 to help teachers identify learning gaps early, mandatory citizenship in primary schools, and overhauling the key stage 2 test of grammar, punctuation and spelling.In its response, the DfE confirmed it would accept the review’s recommendation to scrap the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure introduced by Michael Gove, and would introduce a statutory entitlement for all GCSE pupils to study triple science.Curriculum review leader Professor Becky Francis told reporters “we are an international outlier in the number of exams and the volume of exams we have aged 16 – only Singapore is anywhere near us”.“So we do want to try and bring that down,” she said.“It’s a very intense and elongated time, as anyone who’s been a parent of GCSE-age pupils knows, but we don’t want to trade standards and reliability.”“The amount of time that young people spend in exams at key stage 4 has become excessive,” the report said.The Government aims to publish the revised national curriculum by spring 2027, to be implemented for first teaching from September 2028.Citizenship would become compulsory in primary schools to ensure all pupils learn financial and media literacy, about democracy and government, and access climate education.Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “It has been over a decade since the national curriculum was updated, and it’s more crucial than ever that young people are equipped to face the challenges of today, so they can seize the exciting opportunities that life has to offer.”The Government launched a review of curriculum and assessment in schools and colleges just weeks after winning the general election in July 2024.A panel of experts considered a range of evidence, including more than 7,000 responses from the public. More

Cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson has doubled down after the chancellor issued a stark warning over the state of Britain’s ailing economy, saying she would make tough choices to put it back on a secure footing in the long term. The education secretary admitted there are “major problems” plaguing the economy, saying that the government will do what is “necessary” to remedy them. It comes after Rachel Reeves put the country on notice that sweeping tax rises were coming in her Budget, warning “we will all have to contribute” to building a new future for Britain in a major Downing Street address on Tuesday. Promising to put the national interest above “political expediency”, the chancellor signalled she is ready to break Labour’s manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, personal national insurance or VAT. Bridget Phillipson said the government takes its manifesto pledges seriously More

The UK is “sliding into an avoidable crisis” on work, the author of a major review has warned, with one in five adults now out of the labour force. Overall, 2.8 million working age people are now economically inactive due to health conditions, according to the Keep Britain Working review released on Wednesday.Among 16-34 year-olds, the number of people out of work due to long-term sickness and with a mental health condition increased by 76 per cent between 2019 and 2024. Ex-John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield was commissioned by the government to lead the report that would look at how officials and businesses could work together to get people who are disabled or long-term sick into jobs.His report found that poor workplace health costs UK employers around £85 billion a year.It also warned that Britons being unable to work due to ill health is costing the country around 7% of GDP (gross domestic product).Sir Charlie said there is “broad recognition that Britain is facing a quiet but urgent crisis”, with ill health now one of the biggest drivers of economic inactivity in the UK.His review told of a culture of fear among workers around ill health, a lack of an effective or consistent support system for employers and employees in managing health, and structural challenges for disabled people.Among the figures detailed in the document, Sir Charlie said that 800,000 more people are out of work than were in 2019 due to health problems, with projections that this could climb by a further 600,000 by 2030. He said that “young adults are being hit hard” and added: the growth in 16-34 year-olds with a mental health condition who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness is particularly concerning, having risen by 190,000 (76%) between 2019 and 2024”. Publishing the document, the ex-retail boss said: “Britain is sliding into an avoidable crisis. Ill-health has become one of the biggest brakes on growth and opportunity. But this is not inevitable. “Employers are uniquely placed to make a difference, preventing health issues where possible, supporting people when they arise, and helping them return to work. If we keep Britain working, everyone wins – people, employers, and the state.”He has proposed a new approach where responsibility for health at work is shared between employers, employees and health services rather than being left to the worker and the NHS.Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden during a visit to the Opportunity Hub in Neath More

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has affirmed his commitment to climate action ahead of his journey to Brazil for the UN Cop30 summit.Speaking to sixth form students at Downing Street on Monday, Starmer, joined by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, reiterated the government’s dedication to clean energy goals and the UK’s role as a global climate leader.He conceded that Cop30 would present a “challenge” because of the sluggish worldwide progress in cutting emissions and the escalating geopolitical rifts surrounding climate initiatives.“I’ve thought climate change has been our biggest challenge as a species for a very long number of years now,” he said.“I haven’t changed my mind because some other people have changed their minds.“It’s very important we go and we show that leadership. So that’s what we’ll be going for.”Asked about how large countries have failed to stick by previous international agreements and what makes him confident Cop30 will be a success, Sir Keir said: “It’s a challenge. There’s no doubt about it.“You’re trying to get a whole bunch of countries to act in a similar way. That’s not easy. They’ve all got their own political pressures in their own country.“But I genuinely believe that only by coming together and committing and coming back and looking at the commitments we made in the past, and making the argument is really important.“And I think one of the main reasons for going is to continue to make that case.”Starmer conceded that Cop30 would present a “challenge,” becuase of the sluggish worldwide progress in cutting emissions More