Politics

The Northern Ireland secretary will urge all political parties to form an executive as soon as possible after Sinn Fein’s historic election victory. Brandon Lewis will meet the leaders of Stormont’s five main political parties including Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) on Monday as concerns mount within the government over the Northern

Fixing the Northern Ireland Protocol “cannot be put off”, the deputy prime minister has said amid fears that progress on power sharing will remain stalled after last Thursday’s elections. Dominic Raab told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that stability was being “imperilled” by problems with the protocol, which governs Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements.

The Northern Ireland Protocol has been at the heart of UK politics for the past couple of years. Since the Brexit transition period ended on 31 December 2020 the protocol has been a point of friction between Westminster, Belfast and the EU. Now, nationalist party Sinn Fein has make history by becoming the first nationalist

Boris Johnson will reshuffle his cabinet before the summer recess, according to allies of the prime minister. Following dismal local election results for the Conservatives allies of the prime minister have indicated a reshuffle is not imminent. However, they told Sky News Mr Johnson is expected to change his top team before the summer recess,

It has been a “tough night” for the Conservative party, after the loss of some key local councils in London to Labour – but the opposition party has seen mixed results outside the capital. The Tories have lost Wandsworth, Margaret Thatcher’s “favourite council”, Westminster and Barnet to Labour. Boris Johnson faces losing his Commons majority

This is not an easy election to analyse: the picture is mixed and messy. As dawn breaks on Friday, nobody – perhaps with the exception of the Lib Dems – should be overly happy with the results. Tories suffered losses – perhaps not as many as they might. Two losing council leaders, one in the

Votes are starting to be counted in a set of elections that will help us gauge the political fortunes of Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer. Although people have cast their ballots for local representatives who will be responsible for planning issues, housing and rubbish collections, these local elections give voters a chance to have

Northern Ireland’s new first minister-elect, Michelle O’Neill, says being a teenage mother made her the person she is. The Sinn Fein deputy leader has spoken candidly about becoming pregnant with her daughter Saoirse at the age of 16. She said: “Being a young mum, well it’s my life experience, it made me what I am,

Labour is likely to advance in key battlegrounds in the local elections but may struggle to win significant numbers of new councils outright, according to a major new results projection by YouGov for Sky News. Labour looks set to make slower progress tomorrow in the north of England than elsewhere in the local council elections,

The UK and Japan are set to agree a new defence agreement when Boris Johnson hosts the Japanese prime minister in London on Thursday. Downing Street said the prime minister’s meeting with Fumio Kishida is expected to conclude with a “landmark” reciprocal access agreement being signed. The agreement would allow British and Japanese forces to

Elon Musk has been invited to speak to MPs about his proposed acquisition of Twitter. Mr Musk has made several vague pledges as part of the Twitter takeover, including introducing verification for all human users and tackling the prevalence of spam accounts and bots on the platform. The chair of a parliamentary committee which scrutinises

Boris Johnson has said he wants MPs to win their seats based on merit after being asked about all-female shortlists. The prime minister was quizzed on his attitude to women and how they are treated in the Conservative Party in the wake of multiple sex scandals. Asked about the fact the Tories had lower numbers

Durham Police should reopen an investigation into whether Sir Keir Starmer broke coronavirus laws, a minister has said. The Labour leader has come under pressure since footage emerged of him drinking a beer with colleagues at a time when restrictions were in place. Speaking on Sky News, International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said officers should

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Conservative MPs of “mudslinging” over footage of him drinking a beer with colleagues at a time when COVID restrictions were in place. The Labour leader told broadcasters those pictured were working and paused for some food and that “no rules were broken”. At the time, people in England were banned

A growing divide is predicted at this week’s local elections, with Labour on course to make gains in cities in England but struggling to breakthrough in former industrial heartlands. Experts say there are “two elections” at play, predicting big urban areas could swing to Labour due to the cost of living squeeze and the partygate

Angela Rayner has written to Boris Johnson demanding answers over reports that a ‘Sexist of the Year’ award was handed out at a lockdown-busting Christmas party in Number 10. Labour’s deputy leader has called on the prime minister to confirm whether or not the award was presented at a gathering in Downing Street in December

Closing parliament’s bars in a bid to tackle a culture of sexual misconduct on the estate would be “excessively puritanical”, Kwasi Kwarteng has said. Speaking on Sky News’ Ridge on Sunday programme, the business secretary said that despite concerns regarding excessive drinking taking place on the parliamentary estate, the bars should not be closed. “No,

A former MP who was jailed for sexually assaulting two women told a court he is looking at supermarket shelf stacking and building site work to pay back his prosecution costs. Charlie Elphicke, the former Conservative Dover MP, presented Universal Credit and bank statements during an appearance at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Friday to prove

An MP under investigation for allegedly watching pornography in the Commons said he opened a file by mistake but would step down if he is found guilty. Conservative MP Neil Parish referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Friday, days after two female Tory MPs said they witnessed him watching pornography on his

An MP under investigation for allegedly watching pornography in the Commons should be kicked out of the Tory party if he is found guilty, a minister has said. Neil Parish, who had the Conservative whip suspended on Friday, said he opened a file by mistake but would only step down if he is found guilty.