Politics

Is history repeating itself in the row over Sir Keir Starmer’s voice coach Leonie Mellinger? After all, she is not the first person who has coached a prime minister to be caught in political controversy. After the Tories demanded a police probe, are there echoes of the row over Tony and Cherie Blair’s “lifestyle coach”

Local elections in nine areas will be delayed for a year to allow for a shake-up of the council structure, Angela Rayner has announced. Votes scheduled for May would be postponed in East Sussex, West Sussex, Essex, Thurrock, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk, Suffolk and Surrey, said the deputy prime minister, who is also

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana’s anti-terror case should have been kept open, a review into his attacks has found. Following the killings in Southport last summer, a rapid review was launched into Rudakubana’s contact with Prevent – a government strategy aimed at stopping people from becoming terrorists. Speaking in the House of Commons, Home Office minister

Four Labour MPs who were suspended for rebelling over the two-child benefit cap have had the whip restored, Sky News understands. Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain and Rebecca Long-Bailey are now back in the parliamentary Labour Party after sitting as independents in the Commons for six months. Politics latest: Local elections delayed by a

Sir Keir Starmer has contradicted President Donald Trump’s stance on Gaza, saying that Gazans “must be allowed to rebuild” as part of a two-state solution. The prime minister was asked about the president’s surprise announcement by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey during Prime Minister’s Questions. Sir Keir’s stance came following comments from Foreign Secretary

A former Labour frontbencher has urged the government to condemn Donald Trump’s “barbaric” plan for a US takeover of Gaza as “ethnic cleansing”, in a move that risks reigniting internal party splits over the Middle East conflict. Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, a former shadow mental health minister who ran to be deputy leader, said the government

Energy giant Shell is due to install a multi-billion pound gas platform in the North Sea this spring despite being blocked from drilling, Sky News understands. The Jackdaw field, which it is claimed could eventually power more than a million UK homes, has to get fresh approval from Downing Street to extract gas after a

AstraZeneca has cancelled plans for a £450m vaccine manufacturing plant in Liverpool, blaming a cut in funding from government. The investment, announced last year in the Tories’ spring budget, was dependent on a “mutual agreement” with the Treasury and third parties, it was said at the time. It will no longer go ahead because Labour

Former Labour prime ministers Gordon Brown and Sir Tony Blair have led tributes to “working class hero” Lord Prescott at his funeral. The great and the good of the Labour Party remembered the UK’s longest-serving deputy prime minister, who died in November aged 86 after a battle with Alzheimer’s. The funeral cortege included a Jaguar

Sir Keir Starmer has hailed John Prescott’s “fighting spirit” ahead of the former deputy prime minister’s funeral. Labour grandees, government ministers and MPs, prominent party supporters and trade union leaders are gathering today for the service in Hull Minister. Lord Prescott, who died on 20 November aged 86, was MP for Hull East for 40

Deregulation, streamlining planning decisions, and clamping down on judicial reviews – you might have found much of what Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday a bit dry and abstract. But keep reading, because it is also a very big deal, and years down the track will probably be looked back on – for good or for

The government supports a third runway at Heathrow, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced. The chancellor said there had been “no progress in 80 years” and that a third runway was “badly needed”. She said the airport “connects us to emerging markets all over the world” and its expansion would increase trade opportunities. Ms Reeves said

NHS and department of health officials show a “lack of ideas or drive” to transform the health service for patients, MPs have said. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has published a report into the future of the health service months after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer laid out plans for “three big shifts” in the

Sir Keir Starmer has warned the UK has a “cohort of loners who are extreme and need to be factored in” as a leaked Home Office review said the UK should deal with extremism by focusing on concerning behaviours and activity rather than ideologies. The prime minister said his government is “looking carefully where the

Ed Miliband has said the expansion of Heathrow and other airports “won’t go ahead” if they don’t meet the UK’s emissions targets – putting him on a potential collision course with Rachel Reeves. The chancellor has not commented directly on whether she would support a third runway at Heathrow, but she has indicated she would be prepared

Jess Phillips has suggested people could lose their jobs over the failure to prevent the Southport attack. Axel Rudakubana, 18, who was sentenced to life in jail last week for killing three little girls last summer and attempting to kill 10 others, was referred to the anti-terror Prevent programme three times before the attack he

Kemi Badenoch has defended blaming “peasants” from “sub-communities” in foreign countries for the grooming gangs crisis. Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, she insisted she would not be “shy” when talking about the scandal, which saw a string of child sexual exploitation convictions of men mostly from Pakistani backgrounds. Ms Badenoch told

The government has confirmed retailers selling knives online will require ID to purchase and also on delivery. After it emerged Southport killer Axel Rudakubana bought the knife he used to kill three young girls from Amazon when he was just 17 years old, the government has brought forward planned changes to online knife sales. A

Rachel Reeves has said “no stone should be left unturned” in the Southport inquiry to stop anything so “appalling” happening again. The chancellor told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips the inquiry announced this week into how Axel Rudakubana was able to murder three little girls and injure 10 others last summer was “essential”.

Kemi Badenoch has said she “certainly would” back a third runway being built at Heathrow Airport. The Conservative Party leader told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that she has supported the expansion of the UK’s largest airport in the past, and would not change her mind on doing so. “I’ve had to vote