We’ve continued to hear reactions from opposition parties about the mistaken release from HMP Wandsworth of an Algerian prisoner. Here’s what we’ve heard so far:

• Shadow home secretary Chris Philp says it is “shocking that once again the Labour government has mistakenly allowed a foreign criminal to be released from prison”
• The Liberal Democrats justice spokesperson Jess Brown-Fuller is calling for Justice Secretary David Lammy to return to the House of Commons this afternoon to explain "why he failed to answer" questions during PMQs on whether another prisoner had been mistakenly released
• Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called the incident a “farce”
• Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting - where the prison is located - says: “Local residents will quite rightly be deeply concerned. We urgently need answers from the government and Ministry of Justice as to how this was allowed to happen”

Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent

The politics of this is all pretty excruciating for the government.

Sima Kotecha reports that David Lammy was informed about the release last night but that the view in government is that it would have been irresponsible for him to talk about it in the House of Commons.

And surely it would not have occurred to Lammy or his team that the Conservatives would get a tip-off before PMQs, enabling James Cartlidge to focus solely – albeit only implicitly – on this issue.

Yet there will be no shortage of those now queuing up to make the case that, whatever the operational sensitivities, Lammy made the wrong call. I am hearing from people in government who fear that the public perception will now be that the deputy prime minister was deliberately avoiding candour.

In the course of writing this post, I have even heard from one government minister – yes one of Lammy’s own colleagues – questioning whether what Lammy said and did not say was tantamount to misleading the House of Commons.

There’s an important additional point to make, though. It is understood that the prisoner was not an asylum seeker. Cartlidge asked a specific question about asylum seekers. On that basis, it may have not been entirely straightforward for Lammy to give a yes or no answer.

These are questions which not only the Conservatives but the Liberal Democrats want ventilated in the House of Commons this afternoon. After the end of today, MPs won’t return to Parliament until Tuesday. It’s hard to see how this story can rumble that long without Lammy having to speak in public again.

Chris Mason
Political editor

I am told the justice secretary was aware of a case of the accidental release of a foreign prisoner when he arrived for PMQs, but did not know when he entered the chamber whether or not he was an asylum seeker.

David Lammy’s team maintain it was for the Metropolitan Police or others to make any announcement in the first instance, particularly as the full facts were not known to him.

They argue that given the limit to what they knew and not being certain whether James Cartlidge was even referring to the same case, it wouldn’t have been responsible to be drawn into a public discussion about it.

"It is incredibly important to know the facts," a source said.

Image source, Parliament TV

As we've been reporting, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was repeatedly challenged at PMQs over whether there have been any further asylum-seeking offenders accidentally released from prison since Hadush Kebatu last month.

Lammy repeatedly refused to directly answer the question, and referred to previously announced review by former Met Police deputy commissioner Dame Lynne Owens.

He also said that as justice secretary he had strengthened the system since Kebatu's mistaken release.

Here's how Lammy described the changes:

Helen Catt
Political correspondent

The Tories apparently found out 15 minutes before the session that a wrongly released prisoner was at large.

It was something of a gift for them, given the man they were facing across the dispatch box this week was none other than the justice secretary himself.

At first, it seemed a strange choice to people watching for James Cartlidge, standing in for Badenoch, to ask the same question five times.

The repetition, though, suggested it was a question the deputy prime minister either couldn’t, or wouldn’t, answer.

The real sting, though, came at the end of the session when he revealed that that (historically Conservative-supporting) Telegraph had published a story saying that there was indeed a second man at large.

It threw the government into confusion and immediately sparked questions about what the deputy prime minister knew, or didn’t know, when he chose not to answer that very specific question.

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK correspondent

I understand David Lammy was informed overnight about the accidental release.

Prison sources tell me it would have been irresponsible for him to talk about it during PMQs because the detail surrounding the case is "incredibly complex".

I understand it involves multiple agencies and new information regarding the case has been constantly emerging over the last 24 hours.

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK correspondent

A little more now on our previous report that the Algerian man released in error is not an asylum seeker.

Staff at HMP Wandsworth tell me the prison has been in a state of panic after this accidental release with one prison officer describing it as a "shit storm".

I'm told security has been a major concern at the prison for a while now, with an inspection report saying just last year that it was "still reeling from a very high-profile escape that occurred in late 2023".

The report also said it found chaos on the wings, and staff across most units were unable to confirm where all their prisoners were during the working day.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has just issued a statement saying he is "absolutely outraged and appalled by the mistaken release of a foreign criminal wanted by the police".

He says:

"The Metropolitan Police is leading an urgent manhunt, and my officials have been working through the night to take him back to prison.

“Victims deserve better and the public deserve answers. That is why I have already brought in the strongest checks ever to clamp down on such failures and ordered an independent investigation, led by Dame Lynne Owens to uncover what went wrong and address the rise in accidental releases which has persisted for too long.

“This latest incident exposes deeper flaws across the failing criminal justice system we inherited. Dame Lynne Owens’ investigation will leave no stone unturned to identify these issues, so we can fix them, improve safeguards and ensure the public is properly protected.”

As a reminder, Lammy was pressed by shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge several times during PMQs on whether any asylum seekers had been mistakenly released since Hadush Kebatu last month.

Sima Kotecha
Senior UK correspondent

I understand that the Algerian prisoner released by mistake is not an asylum seeker.

• A 24-year-old Algerian prisoner has been mistakenly released from Wandsworth Prison in south London
• Metropolitan Police say they were told by Wandsworth prison at 13:00 GMT on Tuesday that the prisoner had been "released in error" six days earlier, on Wednesday 29 October
• The Met says that officers are "carrying out urgent enquiries" in an effort to locate him and return him to custody
• The PM's spokesman has called the mistaken release "unacceptable"
• Shortly before the news broke Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was pushed repeatedly by shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge on whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since the high-profile case of an Epping sex offender last month - Lammy refused to confirm

We'll bring you any further developments as we get them.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu in October "totally unacceptable" as the government vowed to act to protect the public from similar errors.

Following the latest news of another prisoner's mistaken release, here's a reminder of what Labour promised:

• A review into how Kebatu's erroneous release occurred. "We will get to the bottom of what happened in this case," Justice Secretary David Lammy pledged
• To find out whether prison staff involved had "sufficient experience, training and technology"
• New procedures involving extra checks in prisons across England and Wales to ensure a repeat didn't occur

Alex Forsyth
Political correspondent

The prime minister’s spokesman said the mistaken release of an Algerian prisoner was “unacceptable” and the circumstances behind it would be “forensically” looked at.

In a briefing with journalists following Prime Minister’s Questions, the spokesman said this case was likely to form part of a review into mistaken releases being led by Dame Lynne Owens.

However when asked repeatedly he was unable to say whether Justice Secretary David Lammy was aware of the prisoner release during PMQs.

The spokesman was also not clear as to whether the prime minister knew, saying the PM was on a plane on the way to the COP summit in Brazil and would be kept updated.

As we've been reporting, a second prisoner has been mistakenly freed by the prison service.

It follows a three-day manhunt for jailed migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu last month, after he was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford.

Government figures show these were not isolated events.

The latest figures show that 262 prisoners in England and Wales were mistakenly released in the year leading up to March 2025, according to the prison service's annual digest.

That's a 128% increase compared to the 115 prisoners released in error in the year ending March 2024.

Of the 262 released by mistake, 233 were from prisons and 29 were released in error by courts.

The prison service says in the report that "releases in error remain infrequent", but adds that the rise is linked to "a range of operational and legislative changes".

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

A smile of relief from Lammy a little earlier, as the Speaker declined to grant a point of order from James Cartlidge, who stood up at the end of PMQ's points to a news story saying a manhunt is under way for a second prisoner released in error.

Did Lammy know about this, Cartlidge had asked.

That’s now a question for Downing Street, with the PM’s spokesman currently being grilled by journalists in the room just behind the press gallery.

Watch this space.

Image source, Crown Prosecution Service

The accidental release of jailed migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu dominated the debate between Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and his PMQs opponent, shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge.

Kebatu was mistakenly released from prison on 24 October. He was serving a sentence for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while living in an asylum hotel in Epping, Essex.

Kebatu was re-arrested on 26 October in the London suburb of Finsbury Park. The government apologised over his erroneous release and pledged to reinforce the prison system to ensure it wasn't repeated, with an investigation also under way.

The Ethiopian was put on a flight out of the UK on 28 October, but the following day it emerged he was given a £500 payment after threatening to disrupt his deportation.

The revelation was seized upon by the Tories, who accused the government of sending Kebatu home with "pocket money".

PMQs has now ended, but we'll continue to bring you updates on the breaking news story that an Algerian prisoner has been mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth.

Stick with us.

Cartlidge stands for a point of order in the Commons.

As we have just reported, a police manhunt has been launched for an Algerian man mistakenly freed from prison.

He wants to ask Lammy if he was aware of this when he was just asking him about the issue repeatedly as PMQs.

The deputy PM declined to respond when prompted by the Speaker.

In the Commons earlier, the Tories' James Cartlidge repeatedly asked David Lammy whether any other asylum seeker offenders had been released from prison.

Our political editor Chris Mason said it seemed as though Cartlidge was setting up to "reveal" that an offender had indeed been released.

We can now report that a foreign prisoner is on the run after being mistakenly released HMP Wandsworth.

A Met Police spokesperson said: "Shortly after 13:00hrs on Tuesday, 4 November, the Met was informed by the Prison Service that a prisoner had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday, 29 October.

"The prisoner is a 24-year-old Algerian man.

"Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries in an effort to locate him and return him to custody."

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

An ironic thumbs up from Nigel Farage, as Lammy says he is making quite a lot from gold bullion - according to the register of members' interests.

Labour MP Charlotte Nichols mentions the knife attack on a London-bound train, and says the House should praise the actions of the train's driver, and the "heroic" guard who she says is a worthy candidate for consideration for the George Cross.

The driver has said he was just doing his job, she says, and she asks Lammy if he will recognise the importance of railway crews and role they play in keeping people safe.

Lammy says the actions of the driver and guard were "nothing less than heroic". Some form of recognition is absolutely deserved, he says.

He says the government is fighting for such workers.