Cheat Sheet | Another manifesto breach? And the politicisation of US National Guard shooting

0:03Kamali Melbourne:Hello there and good morning. You're listening to Cheat Sheet, the podcast that cuts through the scroll, the shouting and the spin to bring you everything you need to know in just about 10 minutes. I'm Kamali Melbourne.

0:13Anna Jones:And I'm Anna Jones. It's Friday the 28th of November and this is what's happening today.

0:17Kamali Melbourne:Well, there's been a climb down from the government over its workers' rights bill, but the business secretary denies that it breaks another manifesto from it.

0:25Anna Jones:Yeah, a member of the National Guard who was shot near the White House on Wednesday has died.

0:30Kamali Melbourne:And we've got an incredible story about one of the rarest operations that anyone can have.

0:39Kamali Melbourne:Well, the government has U-turned on what was a key manifesto promise to protect workers from unfair dismissal on the first day that they got their new job. The protection will be introduced after six months, that protection from unfair dismissal, after business leaders said it would put companies off. from hiring. They might have some backing behind that. Now the bill was struggling to get through the House of Lords, prompting the government to make this decision. Now the TUC are on board, but it's not gone down well with the Unite Union, which is a major donor to the party. Of course, their boss, Sharon Graham, says that the employment rights bill is now a shell of its former self.

1:15Kamali Melbourne:So they've decided to make this decision, Anna, to row back slightly on this, But they will argue, as they have, that many of the parts of the bill, including paternity leave and sick pay from day one, remain in place.

1:30Anna Jones:Well, yeah, and there is plenty in this bill that business isn't delighted about. But this element of day one rights, as far as unfair dismissal goes, really was the worst of it as far as many businesses were concerned. And so there is a sense of relief amongst business that this compromise has been reached. from the union's point of view. A number of unions were involved in the talks to reach this compromise with business. And their view appears to be that it was worth that compromise to get the whole bill over the line, to get it through the Lords, to get it agreed on, to get those rights for workers sooner rather than later, probably April.

2:09Anna Jones:And the government, meanwhile, as you say, they're kind of pitching this as an example of positive industrial relations, how they can bring business and the unions together and make a practical arrangement between the two. What will be interesting is to see what backbench MPs make of it, though, as well. And one particular backbench MP, Angela Rayner, of course, whose baby this was, really fascinating to know what she thinks fans compromise.

2:34Kamali Melbourne:Yeah, the question will be whether or not if she was still in place, whether they would have had this road back. I mean, talking to one backbench MPs, one backbench MP has been in touch with me, saying that if they thought Scrapp and the two-child limb was going to soften us up and would take this lying down, they haven't read the room. complaining that it's already impossible to sell some of the government agenda on the doorstep. And they're really upset that this now has been taken away from them as well. Now, whether or not it's a manifesto promise broken again remains to be seen. I guess that's in the eye of the beholder as to who sees.

3:02Kamali Melbourne:Many will say that it will be a manifesto promise broken, but the credibility of this government is in question constantly at the moment because of these rowbacks, these changes, we'll see how much that credibility damage affects them when they're next up at an election. Those May local elections are coming into sharp relief.

3:24Anna Jones:More detail on the budget also coming to light this morning, Kamali. This on the state pension, which will likely soon rise above the personal tax-free allowance. Now, last night, money-saving expert Martin Lewis asked the Chancellor whether this means that pensioners would have to fill out a tax return and pay tax on those extra pounds that have gone over the threshold. And the Chancellor confirmed the pensioners won't have to pay tax on their state pensions if they have no other income at all. So I guess this will be a relief for those pensioners worried about having to give up extra pounds if they did breach this threshold and they don't have the stress of filling out a tax return.

4:04Anna Jones:But it is really interesting, isn't it? We always get these extra details that emerge in the days after a budget, these reassessment of who the winners and the losers are. And I know that there will be a lot of young people that feel that pensioners are being looked after a bit more, whereas they feel that they're bearing the brunt of some of the tax changes.

4:23Kamali Melbourne:Yeah, that generational fairness argument will come back to the full way now. All right, let's go to the United States now, because Donald Trump says that a member of the National Guard who was shot in Washington on Wednesday has now died. As 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, she was one of two guardsmen who was shot. The other was Andrew Wolfe. He's 24 and he's still in a critical condition fighting for his life. Now the shooting happened while the pair were on patrol near the White House. The suspected shoot-up is a man from Afghanistan. He's believed to have worked for the CIA during the US deployment there.

4:57Kamali Melbourne:The attack is being politicised by the White House as an immigration issue, with Trump blaming Biden's immigration policies. This morning, he said he's going to impose a permanent pause on migration, what he has again called third world countries, to allow the US system to recover. So Trump blaming the previous administration. He, during his campaigning, said that Biden ran an open borders policy. This individual came as part of a government run scheme to allow people who'd worked with the United States during their war in Afghanistan to settle in the US. He applied for asylum last year. That asylum was granted this year.

5:35Kamali Melbourne:He himself is in hospital. It's not clear whether or not he's cooperating. But the tragedy of one of these guardsmen having died after the shooting is having reverberations around politics in the US.

5:49Anna Jones:Yeah, and it really is a tragedy, really terrible news that this young woman has died of her injuries. President Trump has called her a highly respected, young, magnificent person. But as you say, the aftermath of this shooting will be really interesting. And what Donald Trump does next, he's called it a major national security threat. And so politically, we may see real changes to immigration in the aftermath of this shooting.

6:14Kamali Melbourne:Yeah, they're going to make some changes. And just an example of some of the rhetoric that's being used in the US right now. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, has posted on social media, we must immediately ban all Islam immigrants and deport every single Islamist who is living among us just waiting to attack. There's a lot of anger in the US right now.

6:35Anna Jones:Now, footage has emerged from the West Bank, which shows Israeli forces killing two Palestinian men after they appeared to surrender. The video, which aired on two Arab TV programmes, shows the men leaving a building and lying on the ground in front of Israeli forces in the northern city of Janine. Palestinian authorities have identified them as 26-year-old Muntasir Abdullah and 27-year-old Yusuf Asasa. Well, both men lifted their T-shirts. They held their hands in the air, apparently to show that they weren't carrying weapons or explosives. The Israeli soldiers then appeared to order the men back inside the building before they were shot.

7:13Anna Jones:And we have had a joint statement between the Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli police, which says the wanted individuals were affiliated with a terror network in the area of Janine. The forces entered the area, enclosed the structure in which the suspects were located and initiated a surrender procedure that lasted several hours. They said following the use of engineering tools on the structure, the two suspects exited. They say following the exit, a fire was directed towards the suspects and the incident is under review by the command is on the ground and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies.

7:49Anna Jones:Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prime Minister's office in Ramallah also accused Israel of executing the men in cold blood, calling the shooting an outright extrajudicial killing in blatant violation of international humanitarian law.

8:02Kamali Melbourne:Yeah, they've called it a war crime, the Palestinians. I mean, the violence in the West Bank has continued after the ceasefire in Gaza that seems to be holding. A thousand Palestinians have been killed since the Hamas attacks of October the 7th. At least 44 Israelis, soldiers and civilians have died in the area as well in that time. And up to 32 ,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes. While much of the focus of the world was on the situation in Gaza, rightly so, there is a situation in the West Bank, which appears at this stage, sadly, to be escalating. Now, an extraordinary story for us this morning.

8:37Kamali Melbourne:Our colleagues, Ashish Joshi and Laura Bundock, who have the health brief, have been following a lady and her four-year wait for one of the rarest and most unusual operations. It's a hand transplant. It's incredible science, this. Now, eight years ago, Kim Smith got a urinary tract infection while on holiday. She developed sepsis in her arms and feet, leaving her having all of those limbs amputated. Now, you can find out more about Kim's story and how specialists at Leeds Teaching Hospital delivered this life-changing operation. We've got a documentary on Sky called The Gift, which airs tonight at 9pm.

9:12Kamali Melbourne:And you can check it out on our website as well. It's incredible, this science that has given this lady back a hand.

9:19Anna Jones:Yeah, unbelievable. I mean, hats off to everybody involved. I really am in awe of these incredible surgeons. It's amazing. Well that's today's Cheat Sheet If you've got a story that you think we should cover do get in touch and let us know about it The email address is cheatsheet at sky.uk And also remember you can ask your smart speaker to wake you up with Cheat Sheet every morning Why wouldn't you want that? And that way you don't miss an episode either Remember to follow the feed so you don't miss an episode and thanks for listening

9:49Kamali Melbourne:Thanks for being with us

9:57Kamali Melbourne:AirPods herald the arrival of a new global order. What do LED lights say about the future of humanity? I'm Ed Conway, and in each episode of my new podcast, Stuff Matters, I take an object, crack it open, and reveal the world-shaping forces hidden inside. This is economics told through the things we think we understand. Search Stuff Matters on your podcast app to listen and follow.