Politics

Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that plans to cut more than 90,000 civil service jobs in order to free up billions of pounds for measures to ease the cost of living crisis does not amount to the return of austerity. During an away-day with cabinet ministers in Stoke-on-Trent on Thursday, the prime minister asked cabinet ministers

Boris Johnson has ordered ministers to come up with plans to cut more than 90,000 civil service jobs in order to free up billions of pounds for tax cuts. During an away-day with cabinet ministers in Stoke-on-Trent, the prime minister asked them to report back within a month on how they can reduce the size

The UK will have “no choice but to act” if the EU does not show the “requisite flexibility” over the Northern Ireland Protocol, Liz Truss has warned. Following a call between the foreign secretary and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, a foreign office spokesperson said that Ms Truss made clear that the arrangement was “the

A Conservative MP has been heavily criticised for claiming that people who use food banks do not know how to cook or manage their finances properly. Lee Anderson, who made the remarks during a House of Commons debate, was accused of insulting people who are struggling to feed their families and Labour said they were

New legislation aimed at cracking down on foreign spying and interference are being introduced by Home Secretary Priti Patel today. The proposals aim to give law enforcement and intelligence agencies the tools to tackle threats such as the use of cyber attacks, drones, and “interference in our economy and democracy”. MI5 director-general Ken McCallum said

Boris Johnson has hinted at an announcement about addressing the cost of living crisis in coming days – but the Treasury swiftly denied there would be an emergency budget. The prime minister came under pressure over the surge in prices facing British households during the Commons debate on the Queen’s Speech, which sets out the

Labour is confident it can prove Sir Keir Starmer did not break lockdown rules after he pledged to offer his resignation if issued with a fixed penalty notice by police. Sir Keir has come under pressure over an event in Durham in April 2021 with party colleagues when he was filmed having a drink and

New laws to outlaw guerrilla-style climate protests that have caused misery for the public are being unveiled in a bumper Queen’s Speech. A new offence of “locking-on”, targeting activists who lock or glue themselves together or to buildings, is planned by Home Secretary Priti Patel. Her crackdown comes in one of 38 new bills, which

Russian military leaders are as much to blame for the Ukraine invasion as President Vladimir Putin – and both should face consequences, the UK defence secretary has said. In a major speech today, Ben Wallace is expected to not mince his words, and tell the world bluntly, that Mr Putin and his inner circle should

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