Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has admitted it will be a “challenge” for British nationals left in Afghanistan to now find a route to the UK. Speaking to Sky News, Mr Raab said the number of British nationals who had not been taken as part of the now-ended UK evacuation effort was in the “low hundreds”.
Politics
Ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are calling on the UK government to keep the £20 uplift to Universal Credit in place beyond the current October deadline. In a letter to Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey, they call for the policy to be made permanent and describe the change – which is due
The UK’s evacuation from Afghanistan has been branded a “humiliation” by a senior Tory MP and ex-soldier, who told Sky News there were a “litany of concerns” in the government’s handling of it that need to be addressed. Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Defence Select Committee, said the Foreign Office no longer had the capability
Football fans in England are set to be allowed to stand at games before the end of the current season, in a reversal of the 30-year rule requiring all-seater stadiums. Many clubs in the Premier League – including Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United – have recently installed “safe standing” areas, with rail seating,
Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the “heroic efforts” of British troops and officials involved in evacuation efforts in Kabul – as the government unveiled plans to help Afghans settle in the UK. The prime minister has written to the armed forces community to thank them for their role in Operation Pitting, which has seen
Business groups have been left “frustrated” after the business secretary rejected requests to loosen Brexit immigration rules to ease the supply chain crisis, telling companies to hire UK-based workers instead. Businesses across multiple sectors are struggling to meet customer demand as a consequence of labour shortages, particularly in haulage where there is a shortfall of
Boris Johnson has pledged to “shift heaven and earth” to get more people out of Afghanistan after the 31 August deadline. Speaking to reporters, the prime minister shared his “great sense of regret” that more individuals could not be airlifted out of Kabul during what he described as “the first phase” of the evacuation process.
This week Sky News has been identifying the gaps in Britain’s border defences. As the number of small boats crossing the Channel breaks new records and European countries brace for a new wave of people fleeing Afghanistan, the issue is rising up the public consciousness once more. Ministers are meant to be able now to
The prime minister says the UK’s evacuation operation in Afghanistan will continue despite what he described as the “barbaric” terrorist attack at Kabul airport. Boris Johnson was speaking in the wake of two explosions in the Afghan capital suspected to have been carried out by suicide bombers. Live updates on Kabul explosions The Taliban says
A migrant charity has told Sky News of its concerns about the impact of leaving asylum seekers trapped in a “dysfunctional” claims system for months and years on end whilst their applications are processed. Care4Calais says government policies which place some in the asylum process in large accommodation centres such as hotels are also making
A charity has raised its concerns about the looming end of the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit, describing it as the “biggest overnight cut in benefits since the Second World War”. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 413 out of a total of 632 parliamentary constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland will see more than
Dominic Raab has admitted that with the “benefit of hindsight” he would have come back from holiday earlier amid the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Speaking to Sky News in his first TV interview since the crisis unfolded, the foreign secretary said it is “nonsense” to say he was “lounging around on the beach all day”
Britain is actively working to keep an airport open in Afghanistan after the final withdrawal of troops, Sky News understands. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said after Tuesday’s G7 summit that the number one priority for the West in coming months was to ensure safe passage for people who want to leave Afghanistan after 31 August
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said it is “unlikely” the 31 August deadline to pull troops out of Afghanistan will be extended as it gets “more and more dangerous”. Speaking to Sky News, he said: “As we get closer it’s correct to say the security risk goes up, it gets more and more dangerous. “Add-on
Boris Johnson is urging President Joe Biden and other world leaders to stand by the Afghan people and not walk away, amid fears that the Taliban is plotting vicious reprisals. The prime minister is chairing a video-link summit of G7 leaders and calling for a boost in international support for refugees and humanitarian aid after
The UK’s evacuation effort in Afghanistan is “down to hours now, not weeks”, the defence secretary has said. Ben Wallace conceded the UK’s involvement will end when the US leaves the country, which is expected to be on 31 August. “The prime minister is, obviously at the G7, going to try and raise the prospect
US and UK troops should have stayed in Afghanistan “to see it through”, Tony Blair has said, as he warned the decision to withdraw personnel could lead to a “security threat” at home. The former Labour prime minister said while he has “enormous respect” for US President Joe Biden, the number of individuals deployed in
Dominic Raab is facing new calls to quit after claims that he defied a call to return from his luxury holiday in Crete to deal with the Afghanistan crisis and stayed for two more days. It is reported that the beleaguered foreign secretary was told by a senior Downing Street official to return to London
The minister for Afghanistan was also on holiday last week as Kabul fell, Sky News has learnt. Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, the minister of state directly responsible for South Asia, was on leave until Sunday, the day the Taliban marched into the Afghan capital. The Conservative peer has been in his post for four
Boris Johnson says he “absolutely” has confidence in Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab – and insisted the government is working “virtually round the clock” to help evacuate people from Afghanistan. Speaking after a meeting of the government’s emergency COBRA committee on Friday afternoon, Mr Johnson dismissed criticism of Mr Raab’s summer holiday as Afghanistan’s capital Kabul