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Zia Yusuf has said he regrets making a post on social media calling one of Reform's MPs "dumb", after she asked the prime minister if he would "ban the burka".

Yusuf, at the time the party chairman, posted on X on Thursday morning saying he thought it was "dumb" for the party's newest MP, Sarah Pochin, to ask Sir Keir Starmer the question as it wasn't party policy. 

He resigned as chairman of Reform later that day, saying he no longer believed working to get the party elected "is a good use of my time".

But in a plot twist few saw coming, he returned to the party 48 hours later, now as the head of Reform DOGE, a group established to audit Reform-run councils and cut waste.

'I was reflecting the party's position'

Speaking about that post, Yusuf said: "I regret that tweet, but let me be clear what I meant by that.

"So, the first thing was the question was asked in the House of Commons, by Sarah - a brilliant MP - and then it was also made clear that that would not be party policy. 

"So, that's all I was stating. I was reflecting the party's position."

Yusuf also said he resigned due to "exhaustion", he was working "pretty much non-stop, virtually no days off in those 11 months".

Nigel Farage has welcomed Yusuf's return, saying he is "delighted". As well as DOGE, the British businessman will also assist with policy, fundraising and media appearances.

The secretary general of NATO will call for a 400% increase in funding for air and missile defences, during a speech in London today.

Mark Rutte will be meeting with the prime minister and John Healey, the defence secretary, this afternoon.

It comes ahead of a summit in The Hague later this month, when the UK and its NATO allies are expected to agree to pledge to spend 5% of GDP on defence and related areas.

Currently, the government is committed to spend 2.5% GDP on defence from April 2027, with a goal of increasing this to 3% over the next parliament. 

Sky News understands the government will in fact increase defence spending to 3.5% of GDP within a decade to keep the US on side.

'Hope is not a strategy'

Speaking at Chatham House, Rutte will call for a "quantum leap in our collective defence".

He will say that "danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends".

The call for a 400% increase in air and missile defence will come because of how Russia "delivers terror from above".

As well as this, Rutte will call for these countries to produce thousands more armoured vehicles, tanks, shells, and improve logistics, supply and medical support. 

Rutte will warn: "Wishful thinking will not keep us safe. We cannot dream away the danger. Hope is not a strategy. 

"So NATO has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance."

Sir Keir Starmer announces more than 7.5m workers will be trained to use AI by 2030.

It's part of a wider scheme to see people, including school pupils, taught how to use AI and tech.

The PM says this training will be done in partnership with 11 major companies along with the "full powers of government".

He goes on: "There isn't a conversation about AI and tech and growth and investment and business that doesn't, in the end, come back to this question of skills, a key concern in any business, in technology, actually any business, pretty well across the country. 

"And [it's] also one of the great worries for working people. It's the same for any parent. Always your number one thought is, how will this affect my children? What does it mean for their future?"

AI training will 'put money in your pocket'

Starmer says he hopes this investment in training means workers and children will feel they are able to be a part of the AI revolution.

He concludes: "By the end of this parliament, we should be able to look every parent in the eye in every region in Britain and say, 'look what technology can deliver for you'. 

"We can put money in your pocket. We can create wealth in your community. We can create good jobs, vastly improve our public services. Build a better future for your children. 

"That, to me, is the opportunity we must seize. That is what my plan for change will deliver."

Sir Keir Starmer says AI is "hugely transformative" and is "absolutely central" to the UK's defence strategy.

The prime minister is the first to speak at London Tech Week and is currently kicking off the event. 

He speaks about being shown examples of AI being used to improve surgery in hospitals, reduce paperwork for social workers, and bolster national defences.

The PM says he has set his own ministers challenges to see how they can use technology to improve their departments. 

He explains: "I've set the challenge to all of my teams to show me how they can use AI, not just in the output of government, not just in the partnership with yourselves and others and the delivery of services, but also in the very way that we do government."

Starmer says that AI and tech "makes us more human". 

He adds: "A Britain that once again, after years of chaos, is a stable partner for investors, that believes the future should be shaped by our democratic values, and that in this volatile world is unequivocally, unashamedly, defiantly open for business."

Starmer unveils two big AI announcements

The PM now announces that Liquidity, an AI-driven fintech direct lender, will base their European headquarters in London.

Starmer says: "That is a 拢1.5bn investment into our economy, which means better access to finance for entrepreneurs right across the country. It's a vote of confidence in our AI Opportunities Action Plan."

He also announces the government is investing an extra 拢1bn to scale up the UK's compute power by 20 times. 

It is a "huge increase", Starmer says, "which means in this global race, we can be an AI maker, and not an AI taker".

And a new tool for councils

Lastly, Starmer explains the government has created an in-house AI assistant to process housing applications.

Called Extract, it is being trialled in Exeterm Westminster, Nuneaton, and Bedworth.

Starmer says: "What it does is it takes old handwritten planning documents and puts them into digital form in seconds. 

"So, jobs that would otherwise have taken hours and hours done in seconds. 100 planning records a day and the average up till now is five. So you can see it's a huge productivity boost."

The tool will be made available to all councils by spring 2026, using Google DeepMind's Gemini model.

The prime minister is now speaking at London Tech Week, following the government's announcement on boosting teaching around AI. 

Sir Keir Starmer is talking about the value of getting the UK's workforce equipped to use AI, as the sector rapidly expands.

He will speak for about 15 minutes before taking questions from the CEO of an American AI firm.

You can watch in the stream above - and of course, we'll bring you the very latest here on the Politics Hub.

The chancellor's spending review on Wednesday will not see a return to austerity, the technology minister has said. 

Sir Chris Bryant warned that while defence and health budgets have already been boosted, "there are going to be other parts of the budget that are going to be much more stretched and difficult".

He added: "That period of austerity where I think previous governments simply cut all public service budgets just because they believed that was what you had to do is over.

"But it鈥檚 not just about spending money - you have to get return, and that means we have to have change.

"We have to have a plan for change in every single one of our public services", he told Times Radio.

The latest episode of Politics at Sam and Anne's has dropped.

Our deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy start today's edition by turning their focus to the spending review.

The Home Office is the last department to finalise their budget with Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of Wednesday.

Detail on winter fuel payments could come today

The pair also say further clarity on the government's reversal of cuts to winter fuel payments could come as soon as today.

Speaking on the podcast, Sam said: "I understand we're going to get further clarity on the winter fuel allowance U-turn early this week. I think that could be as early as today, quite frankly. 

"And we'll find out, will they really be taxing bereaved relatives who died before the cash could be clawed back in their pensioners' tax returns? Will they really announce a U-turn on a measure originally designed to reassure the markets without saying how it's funded? 

"We're all on the edge of our seats with that drama."

The pair also discuss Reform's UK's pivot to Wales.

With Nigel Farage due to make a speech today, Sam and Anne catch up on a wild weekend for Reform - at the start of which party chairman Zia Yusuf resigned over a proposed ban on burkas - only for him to reverse his decision and return 48 hours later.

You can listen to the podcast below, at the top of the Politics Hub or wherever you get your podcasts.

Kevin Hollinrake is now asked about whether the UK should ban the burka, as Reform's newest MP, Sarah Pochin, asked the PM last week.

The shadow housing secretary says he believes "some of our communities are dividing" and he thinks this can be partly attributed to things such as the burka.

He says: "We need to have a proper debate about the burka. I think Kemi Badenoch said workplaces should be able to decide [their] own rules in terms of dress. That was probably as far as she wanted to go right now. But we should, we should have a proper conversation."

Hollinrake adds he believes Badenoch, isn't in favour of banning the burka - but he says it can be worn due to "coercion".

"I don't want to see that. We're in a tolerant society where people should have free will," he says. "I don't think we should go around telling women what to wear. I think some people in our communities are."

'Burka or balaclava, it's not right to cover your face'

Hollinrake adds he doesn't have many Muslim constituents, but that if a woman wearing a burka came to his constituency office with an issue, he would probably ask them to remove the veil over their face as "it can be seen as a barrier to communication".

Asked if this doesn't suggest a lack of understanding about the Muslim faith, he responds he "doesn't think it's right" to cover your face, "whether it be a balaclava or a burka".

The chancellor's spending review will lead to "more taxes", the shadow housing secretary says.

Kevin Hollinrake tells Sky News that he fears the decisions taken by Rachel Reeves - which will be revealed on Wednesday - have the Conservatives "concerned".

He says: "You've got a very high spending, high tax government. And more spending is going to mean probably more taxes. 

"And the government said it had a fully costed, fully-funded manifesto and ended up whacking the country with 拢76 billion of tax and spend. Let's see where this money is coming from when it comes."

Challenged on the fact that the Conservatives left government with the highest tax burden in 70 years, Hollinrake responds that ministers had to put up taxes after Covid.

"But the tax burden was on its way back down", he says. 

"That's that plan - with this government, it is going up and up and up."

Sir Ed Davey is now asked about assisted dying following the publication of a letter by more than 1,000 doctors calling on MPs to vote against assisted dying. 

The letter says a bill that would legalise this process in the UK is a "real threat to both patients and the medical workforce".

It adds that while it is right for the country to have a discussion over the issue of assisted dying, "this bill is not the answer".

The doctors behind the letter say MPs have not heard enough evidence from medics, people with disabilities and other marginalised groups. 

"This bill will widen inequalities, it provides inadequate safeguards and, in our collective view, is simply not safe," it goes on to say, calling it a "deeply flawed bill".

A final vote on the bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales is due to be held on 20 June.

Asked for his reaction to this, the Liberal Democrat leader says that he has voted against assisted dying repeatedly.

He tells Sky News: "I have real concerns about the pressure on individuals, that they will put on themselves, if they think they are a burden on their family, so I welcome this letter.

"I hope as time has gone on, as the arguments have been better exposed, that MPs will switch sides and join the side that I and many MPs are on."