UK politics: Welsh Tories criticise Of Mice and Men’s removal from GCSE course over racism concerns – as it happened | Politics

The Welsh Conservatives have criticised a decision to remove John Steinbeck’s 1930s novel Of Mice and Men from the GCSE curriculum because class discussions about the book, and the racial slurs it contains, have been distressing for some black pupils.

As the BBC reports, Wales’ children’s commissioner Rocio Cifuentes said many black children “specifically mentioned this text and the harm that it caused them” when she spoke to them as part of research on racism in secondary schools.

Referring to the decision by the WJEC exam board to take it off the GCSE curriculum from next September, she said:

It’s not censorship. This is safeguarding the wellbeing of children who have told us how awful those discussions have made them feel in those classrooms.

They’ve very often been the only black child in that classroom when discussions all around them are focusing on very derogatory, negative depictions of black people.

But Natasha Asghar, the Conservative education spokesperson in the Senedd, said this was censorship, and that it would not solve the problem of racism. In a statement she said:

Instead of banning Of Mice and Men, we should teach it within its historical context, showing students how overt racism and sexism was commonplace and accepted in the past and why this was harmful and wrong.

Censorship doesn’t solve the problem; it prevents young people from confronting and understanding these prejudices some of which, sadly continue.

Sadly, even in 2024 we continue to see racism and sexism in society. If we want to tackle this then instead of banning a classic text, we would do better to challenge media companies that produce music containing misogynistic language and words with racism connotations.

John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, has described the figures out today saying there was zero growth in the third quarter of the year as “deeply alarming”.

Speaking to PA Media, Swinney said:

The data that has come out today about the performance of the UK economy in the last quarter is deeply alarming.

There’s been an absence of growth and that’s going to be added to by the decisions taken in the UK budget, when the chancellor decided to increase employers’ national insurance contributions, which is, bluntly, a tax on jobs.

So, I’m really worried about what that decision will mean for the future prospects of the economy.

Swinney said the Scottish government’s recent budget was aimed at making Scotland an “attractive place for investment”. But, he went on:

Fundamentally, I am worried about the economic outlook that the Labour government has taken forward because of some mistakes that were made in the budget about increasing employer national insurance contributions and the implications of that will be very significant for Scotland.

Paul Johnson, the outgoing director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, has said it is “a little unfair” to blame the government for the lack of growth highlighted by today’s revised figures from the ONS.

Speaking on Times Radio, asked if the government was to blame, Johnson said:

I think it’s probably a little unfair. The government had no choice, really, but to fix some of the massive problems, and they’re right about this. The last government did leave them absolutely massive problems.

I think some of what they’ve done to fix it has been less than ideal. So what we’ve essentially had in terms of tax was the last government, I thought very cynically, reduced the employee national insurance rate and then this government essentially made it up by increasing the employer national insurance rate. And in the short run, at least, that is a net loss to the economy because that makes it more expensive for employers to hire people. So I think there is a problem there …

You’ve got a significant increase in spending relative, at least, to what was planned. Now again, we can see the need for this in the NHS and the justice system and elsewhere, and the remarkable thing is, we’re all complaining, as it were, about the big tax rises, but the spending rises are even bigger. So one of the issues here is the government is borrowing more. In other words, it’s pumping more money into the economy and that can have inflationary consequences.

Johnson also said the chancellor may want to raise taxes again next year. Asked about what might happen next year, he replied:

I’m not expecting a recession. But again, the government’s going to be talking about hard choices. They’ve got the hardest of all choices to make in the summer when they do their spending review and then I think we’ll have a lot of miserable cabinet ministers because they’re not going to get very much money.

And who knows? It’s not impossible that the chancellor [Rachel Reeves] will feel she needs to come back for yet more money next autumn if the economy doesn’t pick up.

Then, again, she’s stuck in this really difficult place – you increase taxes in order to fund public services adequately or because there’s no growth, you don’t have the money you need for the public services and you disappoint people on that front.

Reeves has repeatedly said that, after raising taxes significantly in the October budget, she is not planning a similar tax-raising budget this parliament.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson also rejected claims that Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US could be problematic because of past comments from Mandelson criticising Donald Trump.

On Friday Chris LaCivita, a consultant involved in Trump’s election campaign, described Mandelson in a post on X as an “absolute moron”. He was commenting on a news story about Mandelson calling Trump a “danger to the world” and a white nationalist five years ago.

Asked if the PM was worried the LaCivita comment showed that having Mandelson as ambassador could cause problems, the PM’s spokesperson replied:

No. The appointment shows just how seriously we’re taking this relationship.

[Mandelson] has got extensive foreign policy and economic policy expertise, particularly in the crucial issues of trade, business links. He’s got experience at the highest levels of government and he will be a significant asset in the UK’s relationship with the United States.

Today the Daily Telegraph has splashed on a story saying that Peter Mandelson, who will be the new UK ambassador to Washington, will use Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, to help build good links with the Trump administration. Before he was appointed Mandelson said he thought it would be a good idea for the British embassy to be making use of “friends” of Trump, like Farage, and today’s story is mostly based on a briefing saying Mandelson still stands by what he said in November. But it includes a quote from “a source close to Lord Mandelson”, asked about Labour people arguing Farage should be sidelined, saying:

I am sure that would be a view held by some but not those who need to conduct UK-US relations in the most optimum way.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning, the PM’s spokesperson was asked if Keir Starmer would be happy for Mandelson to make use of Farage’s connections in this way. The spokesperson said he was “not going to get into that”. But he pointed out that Starmer had a half-hour conversation with Trump only last week, and dinner with him in New York in September, and he said that, as the new ambassador, Mandelson was a “highly respected figure with extensive foreign and economic policy expertise”.

Keir Starmer is getting a holiday. He was due to get a post-election holiday in the summer, but he cancelled it so that he could stay in the UK to deal with the summer riots.

The PM is spending Christmas with his family at Chequers. But they will be going abroad “for a few days” over the new year, his spokesperson told journalists at the No 10 lobby briefing this morning. The spokesperson did not reveal any further details about where he would be going, or for how long he would be away.

Asked if Angela Rayner would be in charge while he was away, the spokesperson said Starmer would remain in charge.

Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy both agreed it was “vital” for Russia to fail in Ukraine when they spoke by phone this morning, Downing Street said.

In a read-out of the call, a No 10 spokesperson said that Starmer started by telling Zelenskyy about his trip to the Joint Expeditionary Force leaders’ summit last week, and the resolve of JEF members “to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position going into 2025”.

The spokesperson went on:

At the summit, the group underscored the importance of matching their words with concrete action, including through further sanctions on the shadow fleet, the acceleration of lethal aid, and support for the Ukrainian defence industrial base, the prime minister added.

President Zelenskyy reflected on the situation on the frontline in Ukraine and the need to ensure Ukraine could degrade Russian forces for the long haul.

What happens in Ukraine in the coming weeks and months matters to Europe and Nato, and it was vital President Putin’s ambitions fail in Ukraine, the leaders agreed.

The Labour party has put out a statement about the Kemi Badenoch Today podcast interview. Referring to her reluctance to give details of policy (see 9.25am and 11.14am), a Labour spokesperson said:

Every time Kemi Badenoch speaks it becomes clearer that she has no solutions to the problems the Tories created. Under her leadership, the Conservatives have made unfunded spending commitments worth billions without explaining how she would pay for any of them. The Conservatives haven’t listened and haven’t learned. Labour’s plan for change will fix the foundations and rebuild Britain.