UK

Tory incumbent Andy Street has suffered a shock defeat to Labour in the West Midlands mayoral election after a partial recount was ordered. Labour’s candidate, Richard Parker, beat Mr Street by just 1,508 votes – 0.25% – to deliver a major blow to Rishi Sunak in the key electoral battleground after a hammering in the

Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the villagers who Sky News revealed turned him away from his local polling station when he tried to vote without a valid photo ID – under rules he introduced. The former prime minister has said he had attempted to cast his ballot using a magazine sleeve with his name

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has renewed his demand for Rishi Sunak to go to the polls after the prime minister suffered a by-election drubbing and bruising council losses across England. But while Mr Sunak said the the grim early results were “disappointing” for the Conservatives, he insisted he was focused completely on the job

The Conservatives are on track for their worst local election results ever – as counting continues. In a strong night for Labour, the party has taken control of a string of Leave-voting councils and won the Blackpool South by-election. It’s a bleaker outlook for the Tories, who in some areas have been pushed into third

Vote counting is under way after polls closed in local elections taking place across England and Wales. More than 2,600 council seats across 107 councils are up for grabs in England, alongside 11 mayoral elections, a parliamentary seat and police and crime commissioners throughout England and Wales. Polls opened at 7am and closed at 10pm.

After a night of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms, the UK could see its warmest day of the year so far, the Met Office has said. Following on the back of two severe storm warnings covering parts of southern England and Wales, Thursday could reach 24C – the warmest day of 2024 so far. Thunderstorms hit

A man has been charged with murder after 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin was killed and four people were injured near a London Tube station. Two Metropolitan Police officers were among those hurt as they responded to reports of an attacker with a sword in Hainault, northeast London, on Tuesday. The man charged has been named as

Police officers who responded to a sword attack in London suffered “horrifically serious injuries” – with one of them having been close to losing her hand, the head of the Metropolitan Police has said. A 14-year-old boy was killed and four other people were injured in the attack in Hainault on Tuesday morning. Police have

Dramatic footage shows the moment police tasered and arrested a 36-year-old man after a stabbing attack in northeast London. A 14-year-old boy was killed and four people, including two police officers, were left injured after a man went on a rampage in Hainault. Police were called to reports that a man was wielding a sword

A critical incident has been declared near a tube station in northeast London after reports a man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers. The man, alleged to have been carrying a sword, crashed a vehicle into a house in Thurlow Gardens, before reportedly stabbing a number of people, police said.

The next leader of the SNP could be “crowned… with no contest”, the Scottish Conservatives have claimed, after Humza Yousaf stepped down from the role on Monday. Mr Yousaf – who has been leader and first minister of Scotland for just over a year – announced his resignation after his decision last week to cut

Humza Yousaf is considering resigning as Scotland’s first minister as early as today, Sky News understands.  A senior source has said the embattled SNP leader could “call it quits” later ahead of a key vote of no confidence later this week. Mr Yousaf is facing two no confidence votes at Holyrood in the coming days

More human remains have been found in two locations as part of an investigation that started when a man’s torso was discovered in Salford. Police believe the torso belongs to a man in his 60s and have informed his family about his death, but have not yet identified him publicly. In a news conference today,

I’ve known Rishi Sunak slightly for almost a decade, having first met him after he penned a thoughtful, comprehensive, well-received report on Britain’s minority communities, which I’d say is still the best of its kind. Sitting down to interview him in a state-of-the-art defence facility this week, I could still see the same energetic, likeable problem

Conservative MP and former health minister Dan Poulter has defected to Labour. The MP for Suffolk Central and Ipswich North, with a majority of 23,321 at the last election, has indicated he is not planning to stand at the next general election. The defection was revealed in an article on The Observer website, in which

A Jewish campaign group has cancelled today’s Walk Together demonstration amid safety concerns, as the Met Police says the risk of disorder from a pro-Palestinian march is not high enough to seek a ban. Thousands had been expected to attend the event in central London as part of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) event, which

The King is to return to public-facing royal duties, with his medical team “very encouraged” by the progress made in his cancer treatment. The monarch has been receiving outpatient care since early February and despite the good news, palace sources stressed His Majesty is still continuing treatment. The announcement that the King is doing well

Two men have been charged in connection with the small boats crossing that led to the deaths of five people on a beach in France. A seven-year-old girl, a woman and three men died in the incident off the coast of Wimereux in northern France. Yien Both, a 22-year-old from South Sudan, has been charged

A 13-year-old girl has been charged with three counts of attempted murder after two teachers and a pupil were stabbed at a school. The three people were treated in hospital for stab wounds but have now been released. Pupils at Amman Valley School, also known as Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, went into lockdown just after 11.20am

Young girls in the UK drink, smoke and vape more than boys, a major study suggests. England is also “top of the charts” globally for child alcohol abuse, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) research of 44 countries. In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers examined data on 280,000 children aged