UK Politics

Another prisoner could be mistakenly freed from jail again if the government does not undertake a “systematic” inquiry into how a migrant sex offender was wrongly released, criminal justice experts have warned. Hadush Kebatu, who was jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford on Friday in an error that has sparked widespread condemnation. A prison officer has been suspended while a probe takes place, with the government set to announce an independent inquiry.Experts have now claimed that mistakes in the release of inmates happens “all the time” and is symptomatic of the chaos within the prison system, which has suffered from overcrowding, lack of investment, poor staff retention and delayed government decision-making. Richard Gareside, director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, told The Independent: “People need to be held accountable for mistakes, but the underlying context is that this is a prison system in crisis.“If they [the government] don’t do a systematic look at what’s gone wrong, then I suspect it won’t be long before we have another of these kinds of incidents.”Kebatu was arrested on Sunday morning in Finsbury Park after a two-day manhunt More

Nigel Farage has described one of his MP’s comments as “ugly” and “wrong” after she said “it drives me mad when I see adverts full of black people, full of Asian people”. The Reform UK leader said he was “unhappy” with what Sarah Pochin had said, but stopped short of calling her remarks racist. He told a press conference in London: “I understand the basic point, but the way she put it, the way she worded it, was wrong and was ugly, and if I thought that the intention behind it was racist, I would have taken a lot more action than I have.”During an appearance on TalkTV over the weekend, Ms Pochin, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, responded to a viewer complaining about the demographics of advertising by saying they were “absolutely right”.Sarah Pochin has since said her comments were ‘phrased poorly’ More

Rachel Reeves’s former boss has suggested the government does not have a “coherent” tax strategy, amid reports the chancellor is considering a mansion tax in next month’s Budget.Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England, told Sky News that problems within the system cannot be solved by “just adding another wealth tax to it”.It has been reported that the chancellor is considering a tax on high-value properties in next month’s Budget. Lord King ran the Bank of England – where Reeves spent an early part of her career – for 10 years from 2003 to 2013. Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, he said that there is “plenty of scope for reforming the tax system”. Pointing to the reports around a mansion tax, he went on: “Property taxes are [an] interaction between stamp duty, council tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax. You don’t solve that problem by just adding another wealth tax to it.” He said that he would advise the chancellor to “set up a group of people who, in 12 months, look deeply at all aspects of the tax treatment – not just on property, but all kinds of other sorts of savings and wealth – to come up with a coherent view as to what it should look like. “And that doesn’t seem to happen. What happens is the [Office for Budget Responsibility] produces just before the Budget a number … and then they look round for what idea is almost written on the back of a fag packet about how you can raise an extra few billion here or few billion there. The chancellor is reportedly considering a tax on high-value properties More

Tax rises are on the table ahead of next month’s Budget, Rachel Reeves has indicated, amid mounting speculation about how the chancellor will fill a black hole of up to £50bn. Sending a strong signal that some form of tax hike could be on the table, the chancellor suggested that the government needs to ensure there is “sufficient headroom” above its spending plans, and that its fiscal rules are met.The chancellor has previously insisted that Labour’s manifesto commitment not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT still “stands”, when questioned about how she will bridge the fiscal black hole in November.But asked just last week about claims that the Treasury was considering an income tax hike, Ms Reeves reportedly said she would “continue to support working people by keeping their taxes as low as possible”, but that she was still “going through the process” of putting together the Budget.Rachel Reeves is leading a UK delegation to Saudi Arabia in her pursuit of economic growth More

Health bosses are calling for an additional £3bn for the NHS to cover redundancy costs and strike impacts, and have warned that cost pressures are threatening the government’s plan to bring down waiting lists. The chief executives of the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers are asking for the cash ahead of next month’s Budget, and say that without the extra funding, progress on waiting time targets could be at risk.They say that there are three main costs that were not accounted for in the NHS budget for this financial year: redundancy costs, pressures due to strike action, and higher drug prices following interventions from Donald Trump. NHS bosses say cost pressures are hindering plans to cut waiting lists More

The accidental release of a migrant sex offender from prison is a sign that the UK justice system is “broken”, a minister has said.Steve Reed called for the criminal justice system to be “rebuilt from the bottom up” after the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu, who was imprisoned for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.The Ethiopian national was jailed for 12 months in September for the offence, and was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford on Friday morning instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre, in an incident that sparked widespread condemnation.Speaking to Sky News on Monday, the housing secretary said: “This individual had no right to be in the country in the first place, let alone committing the kind of offences that he committed.“I’m sure everybody else watching was just as shocked when they saw this individual had been released accidentally. It wasn’t that he made an escape bid: he was released in a way that should not have happened. Now, that is a sign, isn’t it, of a broken criminal justice system.”Hadush Kebatu was arrested on Sunday morning in Finsbury Park after a two-day manhunt More

Rachel Reeves will head to Saudi Arabia on Monday as she looks to strengthen the UK’s economic relationship with the country, briefly leaving behind the growing speculation at home on the upcoming Autumn Budget.The chancellor will use the visit to Riyadh to try to make progress on a trade deal with the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), meeting senior Saudi royals, US administration figures and global business chiefs.The Treasury hope an agreement struck with the GCC, which also includes United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain, could add £1.6 billion to the UK economy and contribute an additional £600 million to UK workers’ annual wages in the long term.It comes less than a month before Ms Reeves will announce her potentially difficult Budget, with the chancellor thought to be under pressure to break a pre-election Labour pledged not to increase income tax or National Insurance. On the eve of her trip to Saudi Arabia, Ms Reeves said: “I am taking Britain’s offer of stability, regulatory agility and world-class expertise directly to one of the world’s most important trade and investment hubs, making that case in our national interest.“After our landmark deals with the US, EU and India, we’re determined to build on that momentum by going further and faster on partnerships that create good jobs, boost business and bring investment into communities across the UK – from the North East to the Oxford-Cambridge corridor.”The chancellor will use the visit to Riyadh to try to make progress on a trade deal with the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). More

Keir Starmer is being urged to stand up to the left of his party as a furious battle rages within the government over whether to impose a mansion tax in next month’s Budget – which some fear could severely impact the housing market.Rachel Reeves is understood to be seriously considering the proposal for her 26 November budget as she attempts to not only fill a £40 billion black hole in her finances but find more than £10bn of headroom to deal with future shocks.But she and the prime minister are being warned that with the flight of millionaires from the UK already hitting the economy, the move would have disastrous effects.Ministers want Sir Keir to step in with one source saying: “It is patriotism versus prejudice. What is good for the country versus a hatred of success and wealth.”Keir Starmer is being urged by ministers not to agree to a mansion tax More