Politics

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer will go head-to-head in their first televised debate of the general election on 4 June. The two leaders will appear on ITV at 9pm for an hour, the channel has announced. “Sunak v Starmer: The ITV Debate” will be moderated by journalist Julie Etchingham and will take place live

The Labour Party has extended its lead over the Conservatives, according to the first exclusive YouGov poll of the campaign for Sky News. One week into the race for Number 10, Labour is 27 points ahead of the Tories – erasing a small drop in the lead recorded at the end of last week. The

Police will take no further action against Labour’s Angela Rayner after accusations surrounding her living arrangements in 2010. Officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) launched an investigation into the party’s deputy leader earlier this year, after reports suggested she may have lived primarily at her then-husband’s address in Stockport, despite registering to vote under her

The Conservatives have promised to cut taxes for pensioners by creating a new “age-related” tax-free allowance – dubbed “triple lock plus”. Currently, people can receive £12,570 a year of their pensions before they start paying income tax on them – the same figure as the personal allowance for those who work. But if the party

Rishi Sunak is expected to continue championing his controversial plans to revive National Service by urging employers to prioritise job applicants who have served time in the military. The prime minister said all 18-year-olds would be made to undertake a form of “mandatory” National Service if the Conservatives are re-elected on 4 July. Despite growing

Suddenly, at election time, political predictions become so much harder and riskier. Everything changes in a campaign, not least the news cycle. That’s my excuse, at any rate, for failing to foresee the announcement of a general election in last week’s Politics at Jack and Sam’s. There were a few clues – and one magisterial

Nobody would go to jail for refusing to comply with National Service under a Conservative government, the home secretary has said. In the Conservatives’ first policy announcement of the general election campaign, Rishi Sunak said on Saturday he would introduce a new form of mandatory National Service for 18-year-olds if his party wins the vote

Whether you heard the wet outdoor version of Rishi Sunak’s election campaign launch or the dry indoor one, his message on national security was the same.  “The world is more dangerous than it has been at any point since the end of the Cold War,” he told the small banner-waving crowd bussed in to the

Sir Keir Starmer has defended Labour’s decision to rebrand its package of workers’ rights after a union said the plans had “more holes than Swiss cheese”. Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, accused the party of watering down its policies after it rebranded “Labour’s new deal for working people” as “Labour’s plan to

Rishi Sunak is set to battle it out with Sir Keir Starmer over the economy after a bruising day for the Conservative leader which saw two senior party figures quit as MPs. Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom both announced on Friday they would not stand in the 4 July general election, bringing the total number

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Rishi Sunak of “sounding a bit desperate” after he accused him of chickening out of TV debates. The Labour leader told Sky News that “of course there are going to be TV debates” and they are “part and parcel of the election cycle now”. “I obviously want to spend as

Rishi Sunak and senior Tories have sparked the first major row of the election campaign by accusing “spineless” Sir Keir Starmer of “chickening out” of weekly TV debates. The prime minister has challenged the Labour leader to take part in six TV clashes during the campaign debating issues like tax, the cost of living and

Rishi Sunak has admitted Rwanda flights will not take off before the general election – as he denied calling a summer vote because inflation is expected to rise. The prime minister has said for the past few months the first flights removing asylum seekers to the African nation will happen in July. But after calling

The race for Number 10 begins in earnest today following Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a snap summer general election in a high stakes move that could bring to an end his party’s 14 years in government. The prime minister took the gamble of his political life when he announced that he will go to

Rishi Sunak will call a general election for 4 July, Sky News understands. The surprise move comes after days of rumours the prime minister could go to the country earlier than previously thought. Follow the latest politics news live – general election to be confirmed Mr Sunak has been saying for months an election would

People infected with deadly viruses due to the tainted blood scandal could receive more than £2m in compensation, according to government documents. “Illustrative figures” have been published on the Infected Blood Compensation Authority section of the government website, which show “the compensation award that an infected person living with a single infection or co-infection may

Victims of the infected blood scandal will get £210,000 as an interim compensation payment from as early as this summer, the government has announced. Cabinet minister John Glen told parliament the initial payment will be given to people living with the effects of contaminated blood “within 90 days, starting in the summer”. Infected people who

The government will outline how it plans to compensate the victims and families of the infected blood scandal when it makes a statement in the Commons later today. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologised in parliament on Monday after the Infected Blood Inquiry published its final report into the scandal, blaming failures on “successive governments, the

The Downing Street diary has an enormous red ring circled around Wednesday morning when the Office for National Statistics releases its monthly inflation data. The Politics at Jack and Sam’s podcast discuss whether the prime minister can use this week to create an economic turning point. Spreaker This content is provided by Spreaker, which may

Two of Westminster’s best-connected journalists, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard, guide you through their top predictions for the next seven days in British politics. This week the government will be hoping to see the rate of inflation hit the Bank of England’s 2% target as Rishi Sunak aims to claim a victory