Politics

The first black woman to be elected leader of the Conservatives and the fourth female leader of the party, Kemi Badenoch’s no-nonsense style of politics in the end won out. Party members and MPs took the calculation that Badenoch cut through in a way rival Robert Jenrick could not and be best place to take

Kemi Badenoch has won the race to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. The 44-year-old North West Essex MP has been declared the winner of the months-long contest, beating Robert Jenrick. Ms Badenoch received 53,806 votes to Mr Jenrick’s 41,388. Politics latest: Reaction after new leader of the opposition revealed Ms Badenoch has

The Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime division is considering whether to charge MP Mike Amesbury after CCTV showed the politician punching a man in the street. While the police are responsible for collecting evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is responsible for whether someone should be charged with a crime. Cheshire Police has now handed

A Treasury minister has conceded the measures in the budget do hit “working people” – but insisted Labour had not broken their manifesto promises. Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, argued the government had “honoured” its commitment in its election-winning manifesto by not raising the tax rates on working people – specifically, income

The pound has fallen sharply after the chancellor announced the biggest tax rises in a generation. Over the last three days, sterling has dropped by 1.2% (in trade weighted terms) – the biggest fall in 18 months. Between around 1.30pm and 5.30pm today, versus the dollar, it dropped from about 129.9c to the pound to

GB News has been fined £100,000 for breaking impartiality rules over a programme featuring Rishi Sunak, Ofcom has said. The regulator announced in May that the show called People’s Forum: The Prime Minister was found to have broken broadcasting rules. GB News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos said the fine was a “direct attack on free

One hundred and eighteen days into the Labour government, and finally we get to see what the slogan on the front of the manifesto – Change – really means. And you might be forgiven for feeling rather blindsided. Because the tax and spending plans outlined today by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the first Labour budget

‘Everyone in cabinet’ knew the Rwanda deportation bill would not work, according to Conservative leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick. Speaking to the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, the former Home Office minister implied that every senior government minister in the last administration didn’t think the plans to send asylum seekers to Kigali would work. Mr Jenrick

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will promise to “invest, invest, invest” in Labour’s first budget for 15 years. Ms Reeves – who is set to stand up in the Commons just after 12.30pm on Wednesday – will also give a pledge that “working people won’t face higher taxes in their payslips”. However, she will clarify that Labour’s

Kemi Badenoch has suggested she will offer all six candidates in the Tory leadership race a job in her shadow cabinet if she is elected leader. The Tory leadership hopeful, who is competing against Robert Jenrick to become the next head of the Tory party, said she “did not know” if they would like the

The budget will deliver billions of pounds of new funding for the NHS to unlock two million extra appointments a year, the government has announced. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is expected to unveil £1.5bn for new surgical hubs and scanners alongside £70m for radiotherapy machines. An additional £1.8bn will also be put towards elective appointments

The Labour government’s first budget will embrace the “harsh light of fiscal reality” but “better days are ahead”, Sir Keir Starmer will say in a speech on Monday. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver the budget on Wednesday and setting the tone for the announcement, the prime minister will warn of “unprecedented” economic circumstances and the

People will not face higher taxes on their payslips after the budget, a cabinet minister said, as she refused to be drawn on what measures could be in the £40bn revenue raiser. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson repeatedly said she could not speculate on how Chancellor Rachel Reeves intends to fill the black hole in the

Mayors are set to be one of the big winners in the budget after Sir Keir Starmer personally intervened to ensure they have more freedom to spend cash and boost growth, Sky News understands. England’s dozen metro mayors have been working together to push the prime minister, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner for more powers

A Labour MP has said he was involved in an incident where he “felt threatened” and is cooperating with police. Mike Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, said he felt “threatened on the street following an evening out with friends” on Friday night in Cheshire. “This morning, I contacted Cheshire Police myself to report

The amount employers pay in national insurance is set to rise in next week’s budget to raise money for public services, Sky News understands. Reports have suggested it could be increased by up to two percentage points and will – in part – be used to help fund the NHS. A government source told Sky

“Working people.” It’s a fairly broad phrase that’s been banded around a lot this week in light of the budget. Labour actually mentioned the term working people 21 times in their manifesto, so you’d think they would have a pretty concrete idea of who they have in their mind’s eye when pushed on their definition.

Newly elected MPs are struggling to set up offices in their constituencies due to fears for their safety and spiralling rents, Sky News has learnt. Several MPs who spoke to Sky News said they believed landlords were becoming increasingly reluctant to have them as tenants due to the perceived risks that came with the job

Commonwealth leaders will agree plans to look at reparations for the slave trade, in defiance of Sir Keir Starmer. The UK prime minister called the transatlantic slave trade “abhorrent” but ruled out reparations as he said countries affected would rather the UK help them with current issues, such as the impact of climate change. His

Apologising for the UK’s role in the slave trade is “not on the agenda,” Downing Street has said amid the row engulfing the Commonwealth summit. The prime minister has called the transatlantic slave trade “abhorrent” but ruled out reparations as he said countries affected would rather the UK help them with current issues, such as