Politics

Health minister Andrew Gwynne has been sacked over comments posted on a WhatsApp group. Mr Gwynne reportedly made antisemitic comments and ‘joked’ about a pensioner constituent, saying he hoped she died before the next election, according to the Mail on Sunday. In the WhatsApp chat, which contained Labour councillors, party officials and at least one

Keir Starmer was touring the UK National Nuclear Laboratory in Preston when the Bank of England halved its 2025 growth forecast, cut interest rates for the third time in six months, warned of an uptick in inflation and said the national insurance hike on employers would hit prices and jobs more than expected.  It was

The Labour MPs who have set up a pressure group to counter the threat of Reform UK have been warned they risked promoting factionalism. Baroness Harman, a former deputy leader of the Labour Party, said setting up the group was also “problematic” because it gave the impression that those involved did not believe the leadership

The Foreign Office has revoked the accreditation of a Russian diplomat after a British official was expelled from Moscow last year. A Foreign Office spokesperson said the Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, had been summoned to a meeting with a senior British official to revoke the accreditation of the diplomat. “This is in

The government has been accused of “ignoring” the voices of people who lost family in the Grenfell Tower tragedy in its decision to demolish the building. Grenfell United, which represents some bereaved and survivors, criticised the government’s conduct as “disgraceful and unforgiveable”. The news was announced in a meeting attended by deputy prime minister Angela

The Conservative Party is pledging to tighten immigration rules after Reform topped a landmark poll for the first time earlier this week. In her first major policy announcement as Tory Party leader, Kemi Badenoch is pledging to double the amount of time an immigrant needs to have been in the UK before claiming indefinite leave

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana’s anti-terror case should have been kept open, a review into his attacks has found. Following the killings in Southport last summer, a rapid review was launched into Rudakubana’s contact with Prevent – a government strategy aimed at stopping people from becoming terrorists. Speaking in the House of Commons, Home Office minister

Britain’s foreign secretary is on a visit to Ukraine barely a fortnight after the prime minister said the UK will “play its full part” in securing a lasting peace, including by potentially deploying troops. With war with Russia still raging, David Lammy’s trip today also comes as Kyiv waits to hear how the new US

Britain could do a slimmed down trade deal with the United States within months, the last politician to oversee negotiations with Donald Trump’s administration over a UK-US agreement has told Sky News. Last night Sky News revealed that leading members of the Trump administration believe a trade deal with the UK could be sealed in

The symbolism was plain to see. Five years on from Brexit, the British prime minister on Monday was brought back into the club for one night only, invited to an informal dinner with the EU’s 27 leaders to talk about resetting relations after a bumpy Brexit. The invite was sent out weeks ago, with the

Reform have topped a Sky News/YouGov poll for the first time as the party continues to shake up British politics. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has edged in front on 25%, with Labour pushed into second on 24% and the Tories on 21%. The YouGov poll, taken on Sunday and Monday, also puts the Lib Dems

Sir Keir Starmer will urge European countries to commit more in defence spending as he heads to Brussels for security talks. The prime minister will call on Europe to “step up and shoulder more of the burden” to fend off the threat posed by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Sir Keir, the first prime minister to meet

The government has vowed to stop businesses recruiting foreign workers instead of training people already in the UK. Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the current “relaxed free market approach”, which she says has led net migration to quadruple over the past four years. “A big driver… has been

Chancellor Rachel Reeves this week confirmed government support for dozens of big projects to boost growth, on top of Labour’s existing promise to build 1.5 million new homes. Major planning system reforms are under way in a bid to meet targets, but among the challenges the government faces in delivery is who will build them.

Energy giant Shell is due to install a multi-billion pound gas platform in the North Sea this spring despite being blocked from drilling, Sky News understands. The Jackdaw field, which it is claimed could eventually power more than a million UK homes, has to get fresh approval from Downing Street to extract gas after a

Nigel Farage has compared Reform UK’s rise in the polls, with Donald Trump’s recent election victory in the US. At a rally held in Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s constituency, four of Reform’s five MPs gave speeches. During the North West Essex rally, Mr Farage told Reform members the Conservative Party “should be bloody scared of

AstraZeneca has cancelled plans for a £450m vaccine manufacturing plant in Liverpool, blaming a cut in funding from government. The investment, announced last year in the Tories’ spring budget, was dependent on a “mutual agreement” with the Treasury and third parties, it was said at the time. It will no longer go ahead because Labour

Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband will find the government’s support for a third Heathrow runway “uncomfortable” but he won’t cause any “disruption”, Harriet Harman has said. The Labour peer told Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast Mr Miliband is a “green conscience” in the cabinet “but we’ve been here before”.

Former Labour prime ministers Gordon Brown and Sir Tony Blair have led tributes to “working class hero” Lord Prescott at his funeral. The great and the good of the Labour Party remembered the UK’s longest-serving deputy prime minister, who died in November aged 86 after a battle with Alzheimer’s. The funeral cortege included a Jaguar

Deregulation, streamlining planning decisions, and clamping down on judicial reviews – you might have found much of what Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday a bit dry and abstract. But keep reading, because it is also a very big deal, and years down the track will probably be looked back on – for good or for