UK

Nitrous oxide is set to be banned under government plans to clamp down on anti-social behaviour. Levelling up secretary Michael Gove made the announcement this morning on the Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme. “Antisocial behaviour can ruin lives,” he said. Confirming the ban on laughing gas, Mr Gove said: “I think anyone who has the

Picking up litter in jumpsuits, washing police cars and unpaid shop work will all form part of the prime minister’s latest plans to “crackdown” on anti-social behaviour. Offenders blighting their communities will be put to work to clean up their crimes within 48 hours of being handed punishments, Rishi Sunak is set to announce. A

Plans to start moving migrants out of hotels and into military bases or even disused ferries are expected to be announced by the government within weeks. Ministers have already signalled that they want to end the use of hotels as asylum seeker accommodation. Previous suggestions of using holiday camps and student halls are less likely

Actor and radio presenter Craig Charles says he was rushed to hospital after becoming unwell during his BBC radio show. Charles, known for acting roles on Red Dwarf and Coronation Street, told listeners on BBC Radio 6 Music that he had missed a show after spending 24 hours in hospital after coming down with a

The King’s first state visit of his reign has been postponed after widespread unrest in France erupted into violence over President Emmanuel Macron’s retirement age reforms. The official trip will be rescheduled as soon as possible, the Elysee Palace said in a statement. King Charles and the Queen Consort’s visit has been put on hold

Stopping or preventing school inspections would not be in “children’s best interests”, Ofsted has said. It follows calls from teachers and school leaders to halt inspections following the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, who killed herself in January while awaiting an Ofsted report that downgraded her school, Caversham Primary in Reading, from outstanding to

The Bank of England has revealed it no longer believes the UK will face a technical recession this year, as it raised the interest rate by a further quarter percentage point. The unexpected change to its forecast was contained in the minutes alongside its decision to raise borrowing costs for an eleventh successive time to

Boris Johnson has sworn “hand on heart” he did not lie to MPs about partygate events in Downing Street – and said a gathering where he was pictured holding a glass in the air was “absolutely essential for work purposes”. The former prime minister also said the size of Number 10 made it difficult to

Multiple people have been injured after a large ship became dislodged from the dry dock in Edinburgh, Sky News understands. A major rescue operation is ongoing at Imperial Dock in Leith after the vessel lurched towards its right-hand side. The Scottish Ambulance Service sent five ambulances, an air ambulance, three trauma teams and other resources

“For a while, seeing a police officer in uniform, I’d have flashbacks,” says “Sally”, who is herself a serving police officer, left traumatised by sexual abuse from a fellow officer. Sally, not her real name, works for Humberside Police and her testimony perhaps indicates the need for a Louise Casey-style review in every force. She

The Metropolitan Police is institutionally racist, sexist, and homophobic and may have more officers like killer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick, a damning report has found. A review by Baroness Louise Casey, who spent a year investigating the Met Police in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by Couzens, said Britain’s

Boris Johnson has said he accepts he misled parliament over partygate but insists his statements were “in good faith”. In his evidence to the privileges committee, published on Tuesday, the former prime minister accused it of having gone “significantly beyond its terms of reference”. He added that it was “unprecedented and absurd” to claim that

In a controversial move, the United Nations chief is today calling on polluting developed countries like the UK to “fast forward” net zero targets by a decade to 2040, warning the “climate time bomb is ticking”. It comes as the most comprehensive review yet of the state of climate change delivers a bleak picture of

British banking watchdogs have given their blessing to a takeover of Credit Suisse by its Swiss peer UBS, as financial regulators around the world race to contain the industry’s biggest crisis since 2008. Sky News understands that the Bank of England has indicated to international counterparts and to UBS that it will support the emergency

Boris Johnson is to submit a dossier of evidence ahead of an interrogation by MPs over whether he lied to Parliament about the partygate scandal. The former prime minister will provide information in his defence as he prepares for a lengthy televised grilling by the Commons privileges committee on Wednesday, where he faces a fight

A government source has confirmed to Sky News its new Illegal Migration Bill would “seal off all the loopholes” and that UK officials are “certainly working towards getting the flights off by summer”. It comes as the home secretary signed an update to the government’s migrants agreement with Rwanda, expanding its scope to “all categories

Which rail services will be impacted? Avanti West Coast – One train per hour will run in both directions between London Euston and each of Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Preston. A limited service will operate to and from Glasgow. Chiltern Railways – No trains will run north of Banbury. There will be one train per

The home secretary is set to travel to Rwanda this weekend as the government’s deal to send asylum seekers to the country remains mired in legal challenges. It is 11 months since the UK agreed the deal, which would see people who claimed asylum in Britain deported to the central African nation to have their

The government needs to find £4bn in spare cash to fund NHS pay rises, with some of it coming from “areas of underspend”. The one-off payment offered to frontline workers on Thursday will cost £2.7bn, Downing Street has said, while the 5% pay rise will cost £1.3bn. A 3.5% pay increase had already been factored

NHS unions have reached a pay deal with the government in a major breakthrough that could herald the end of strikes by frontline staff in England. The offer consists of a one-off payment of 2% of their salary plus a COVID recovery bonus of 4% for the current financial year 2022/23, and a 5% pay