Summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments from the day:
Liz Truss has written to the prime minister to say she is “deeply disturbed” that China has been invited to next week’s AI safety summit at Bletchley Park. She said China views AI as “a means of state control and a tool for national security”. She is calling for the invitation be rescinded.
Rishi Sunak defended his decision to invite China but admitted that engaging with China on artificial intelligence may not be successful.
Artificial intelligence brings new dangers to society that must be addressed “head on”, the prime minister has warned. Rishi Sunak made the comments during his speech ahead of next week’s landmark global safety summit at Bletchley Park, where politicians and tech executives from around the world will discuss how the technology should be regulated.
Rishi Sunak said that the government would not “rush to regulate” AI. The prime minister also announced that the UK government was establishing the “world’s first” artificial intelligence safety institute.
A potential byelection in Peter Bone’s Wellingborough constituency is likely to be “challenging”, the deputy prime minister said. After MPs approved a six-week suspension against Bone for bullying and sexual misconduct against a staff member, a recall petition will be held, which will trigger a byelection if it is signed by 10% of voters in his Northamptonshire constituency.
Rishi Sunak said byelections are “always difficult for incumbent governments”, adding he was “confident” his government could lower taxes after inflation was “brought down”.
Rishi Sunak signalled he was “confident” his administration would be able to cut taxes before the next election. But the prime minister said it remained the “right economic policy” to focus on delivering his pledge of halving inflation by the end of the year
Boris Johnson’s pandemic-era chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, will give evidence to the Covid inquiry next week, alongside other senior officials from Number 10 during that period. The inquiry confirmed that Cummings will appear on 31 October.
The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been accused of apparent plagiarism in her new book about female economists. An examination by the Financial Times of the book, The Women Who Made Modern Economics, found more than 20 examples of passages from other sources that appear to be either lifted wholesale, or reworked with minor changes, without acknowledgment.
Parliament has been officially prorogued until 7 November for the start of the new parliamentary session and the king’s speech, which will set out the government’s future agenda, including legislative plans.
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Updated
A Green party candidate and his mother have been arrested on suspicion of stalking their local Conservative MP.
Chris Hallam, 48, and his mother, Christine, 76, former teachers from Buxton in Derbyshire, were arrested in September after Robert Largan, the MP for High Peak, accused them of harassing and stalking him.
They are now on bail and are banned from going within 50 metres of him and three members of his staff and within 5 metres of his office.
Chris Hallam stood for the Green party in the High Peak borough council elections in May and was beaten by one Labour party candidate and another from the Conservative party.
He is also High Peak’s Green party campaign coordinator, and he claims he cannot carry out his duties because of the stringent bail conditions imposed after his arrest.
The Hallams say their only crime was turning up to all of Largan’s constituency events after the MP blocked them on Facebook, and asking questions about local and national issues.
Largan reported the Hallams to the police in September after sending them a “cease and desist” letter on 7 July, which informed them that “your persistent actions over the last three months, including but not limited to attending constituency surgeries around High Peak after being specifically asked not to attend in person, and disrupting the surgeries by your aggressive behaviour, are unacceptable.”
The letter said the behaviour had continued “despite advice from Derbyshire police that you should not attend my surgeries in person”.
Ordering them to stop “all such activities” immediately, Largan wrote:
I believe your behaviour has caused harassment, alarm and distress to myself and my staff on a number of occasions.
Warning them that he may contact the police if they ignored the letter, he said they could raise issues with him regarding constituency matters only by writing a letter or emailing him.
Hallam admits that he and his mother ignored the letter and turned up to see Largan at a branch of Morrison’s supermarket in September. On arrival, he said, two police community support officers (PCSOs), as well as Morrison’s security guards, prevented them from speaking to the MP.
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Updated
