Politics

Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell has been charged by police after he was arrested amid an investigation into the SNP’s funding and finances. Police said he has been charged in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the party. The former SNP chief executive, 59, was questioned by detectives after being taken into Police Scotland

Following allegations Tory MP Mark Menzies misused campaign funds, Beth Rigby, Jess Phillips, and Ruth Davidson examine the fallout for the government and for the politician who has been suspended from the parliamentary party. He denies all the claims. And after the Commons votes to ban anyone born after 1 January 2009 from buying cigarettes,

The House of Lords has delayed the passing of the government’s Rwanda bill until next week – in a blow to Rishi Sunak’s attempts to get planes off the ground deporting illegal migrants to the country. MPs overturned Tuesday’s attempts by the House of Lords to dilute the plan – but peers have now put

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said that “better times are ahead” but that the fundamentals of the UK economy are “very strong”. Speaking to Sky News in Washington, Mr Hunt pointed to price rise data from today showing a drop in the rate of inflation as well as the latest jobs figures and IMF economic growth

It has been two years since Boris Johnson first proposed sending asylum seekers arriving in the UK to be sent to Rwanda to have their claims processed. Since then the government has spent £240m trying to get the scheme off the ground, argued – and lost – its case to send migrants to Kigali in

New defeats for the government’s Rwanda bill in the House of Lords have set up a parliamentary showdown on Wednesday – forcing MPs to consider changes to Rishi Sunak’s stop the boats plan. Downing Street wants to get the bill – which declares Rwanda a safe country and stops appeals from asylum seekers being sent

MPs have rejected a series of Lords’ amendments to the government’s Rwanda bill – as a week of parliamentary showdown on the legislation begins. The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill is currently in the middle of what is known as ping-pong, where the two houses propose, debate and vote on amendments. So far,

From Rishi Sunak to Keir Starmer, to President Macron and President Biden, Western leaders on Monday appealed to Israel to exercise restraint following Iran’s drone and missile attack. The prime minister, addressing MPs, issued a carefully-worded statement that both reiterated unwavering support for Israel while acknowledging the other regional partners – Jordan and Saudi Arabia

Lord David Cameron has urged Israel to “think with head as well as heart” and not retaliate to Iran’s missile attack. The foreign secretary said the nation needed to be “smart as well as tough” and think about the consequences of escalating violence in the region. UN warns of ‘devastating conflict’ – Middle East latest

UK jets shot down “a number of drones” launched by Iran in its unprecedented attack on Israel last night, Rishi Sunak has said. The prime minister called the assault by Tehran a “dangerous and unnecessary escalation” of conflict in the Middle East, warning the “the fallout for regional stability would be hard to overstate” had

Liz Truss has revealed she considered abolishing the UK’s economic watchdog and replacing leaders at the Treasury and Bank of England, accusing the bodies of being “pro-China” and “pro-Remain”. The country’s shortest serving prime minister said she discussed scrapping the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) with her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng but concluded it would have

Angela Rayner has said she will “do the right thing and step down” if she is found to have committed a crime in the police investigation into her former living arrangements. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) confirmed earlier today that it was re-examining claims the deputy Labour leader may have broken electoral law over information she

As with most political scandals, the heat in the Angela Rayner housing row is less about the (alleged) crime and more about the (alleged) cover-up. Or, to put it another way, this is all about how honest and transparent the Labour deputy leader has been in responding to allegations about her living arrangements a decade

Soul searching about the UK’s role in the world has broken out again following the publication of a pamphlet by senior diplomats including Mark Sedwill, a former Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser. The World in 2040: Renewing The UK’s Approach To International Affairs is being denounced for suggesting the Foreign Office should change its

We may have been in Easter recess the past couple of weeks, but on both sides of the party divide, there were those who did not get a rest from politics. MP William Wragg undoubtedly had a dysfunctional week as the man at the centre of the Westminster honeytrap scandal. He resigned the Conservative party

A libel case against Science Secretary Michelle Donelan has now cost the tax-payer £34,000. It was revealed last month that the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) had paid out £15,000 in damages to an academic whom the minister had falsely accused of supporting Hamas in a letter she posted on X. But the

Rishi Sunak and other high-profile Conservatives could keep their seats because of voter ID confusion in the next general election, a new poll suggests. The government passed legislation in 2022 requiring Britons to show photo ID despite warnings it would prevent thousands from voting. The new rules came into force last year – with a

It was the picture that launched warnings of the “death” of a popular trainer: the prime minister in a box-fresh pair of Adidas Sambas, paired with suit trousers and a white shirt.  He was accused of “ruining” an “eternally cool sneaker” by GQ, while other magazines rushed to offer lists of alternative trainers after Rishi

William Wragg, who shared other politicians’ personal numbers as part of a parliamentary sexting scam, can no longer sit as a Tory MP after he “voluntarily” gave up the Conservative whip. Mr Wragg yesterday resigned as vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers and also stepped down from his role heading the Commons’ Public

Home Office asylum decisions are being overturned by more than half of applicants, as Sky News reveals a convicted sex offender was awarded refugee status after a judge ruled he would be at risk of “mob violence” in Afghanistan. The man, who was convicted of “outraging public decency and exposure” in 2017, was placed on