Politics

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has said he won’t be standing at the next general election but will keep campaigning for the Conservative Party. In a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which he posted on X on Saturday night, Mr Heaton-Harris said after 24 years in politics, it had been an “honour and a

A Tory peer has resigned the government whip after he was found to have bullied and harassed two people while drunk. Lord Kulveer Ranger, a former adviser to Boris Johnson, faces being banned from the House of Lords bars following an investigation into his conduct. He has apologised for his behaviour and given up the

Plaid Cymru has pulled out of its co-operation agreement with the Welsh Labour government. The two parties signed up to the three-year deal in 2021, agreeing to work together in a raft of policy areas in the Senedd. However, the smaller partner has now withdrawn with immediate effect, seven months before the agreement was due

Jeremy Hunt has pledged to cut national insurance again in the autumn “if we can afford” it. The chancellor has lowered the tax twice since he entered Number 11, which the government says has saved people an average of £900 a year. But speaking at an event in London on Friday, he said “we’re not

Jeremy Hunt will promise further tax cuts if the Tories win the next general election and will accuse the Labour Party of not being honest about how it will fund its spending pledges. The chancellor will give a speech in London on Friday in which he will accuse his shadow, Rachel Reeves, of resorting to

The defence secretary has said he is “angry inside” over the infected blood scandal ahead of a long-waited report into the decades-long injustice. Grant Shapps told Sky News he agreed it had been one of the most “shameful failures” of government and said he was dismayed by the “lack of anybody taking responsibility”. The findings

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer are both facing a historic lack of popularity among ethnically diverse communities, new polling suggests. While ethnically diverse community voting trends are incredibly complex and almost always hard to predict, some polling can give useful indications that can speak to the mood of the country. A comprehensive set of

Sir Keir Starmer will outline his “first steps” for government at a launch event to kickstart the next phase of Labour’s campaign for the general election. The party leader will host the event in the potential battleground of Essex, where he will pledge to build on the five “missions” he set out last year. Among

An emergency measure has been triggered by the Ministry of Justice to deal with prison overcrowding in England. Operation Early Dawn will see defendants in police custody remain there – and not be transferred to magistrates’ courts for bail hearings – in case there is no prison space for that prisoner if they are remanded

Age limits are set to be imposed for the first time on when children can be taught sex education, according to reports. Under the proposals, schools will be told not to teach children any form of sex education until year 5, when pupils are aged nine. Other measures due to be announced by Education Secretary

China’s ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office after three people were charged with spying for Hong Kong. The Foreign Office said it was “unequivocal in setting out that the recent pattern of behaviour directed by China against the UK including cyber-attacks, reports of espionage links and the issuing of bounties is not acceptable”.

The House of Commons has approved plans to exclude MPs from the parliamentary estate if they have been arrested on suspicion of a serious offence. The move came despite the government putting forward a motion to recommend that a ban kicks in at the point of charge – a higher bar. MPs voted to reverse

Rishi Sunak has said the government will appeal against a court ruling that provisions of the UK’s Illegal Migration Act – which created powers to send asylum seekers to Rwanda – should be disapplied in Northern Ireland. The High Court in Belfast on Monday morning ordered the “disapplication” of sections of the act as they

Sir Keir Starmer will bring together Labour’s newly expanded team of mayors on Monday to develop a “gold standard” for growing regional economies. It comes after a string of victories in the local elections, with Labour seizing the West Midlands mayoralty after a knife-edge battle and Sadiq Khan seeing off Tory challenger Susan Hall to

Rishi Sunak is “absolutely right” to hold off calling an election because it gives voters time to see “the plan is working”, the foreign secretary has said.  Lord Cameron told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that the prime minister is a “good man, doing a great job at a difficult time” after a bruising set

Accusations MP Natalie Elphicke lobbied the justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in her then-husband’s sex offences trial are “nonsense”, her spokesperson has said. It is claimed the Dover MP, who recently defected from Conservative to Labour, approached Sir Robert Buckland when he was lord chancellor and justice secretary before the hearing of Charlie Elphicke’s

A cut in VAT and a new levy on arena and stadium tickets are urgently needed to stop grassroots music venues from closing, MPs have said. A report by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee said artists are facing a “cost-of-touring crisis”, with venues stopping live music or closing entirely at a rate of two

“I am ruthless”. That was Sir Keir Starmer’s account of himself and his decision to let Natalie Elphicke into the Labour Party on our trip to Dover on Friday to unveil his plan to stop the small boats. Because for all the controversy her arrival on the Labour benches caused this week, for Sir Keir it

Sir Keir Starmer has said he has no doubt the government will get flights off the ground to Rwanda but Labour would “cancel the scheme straight away” if they win the next general election. The Labour leader, announcing his party’s policy on illegal immigration in Dover, said the government’s flagship policy of sending asylum seekers

The MP who defected from the Tories to Labour yesterday has apologised for comments she made supporting her ex-husband after he was convicted of sexual assault. After former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke was jailed for two years in 2020 for assaulting two women, Natalie Elphicke told the Sun the fact he was “attractive” and “attracted