Politics

One hundred and eighteen days into the Labour government, and finally we get to see what the slogan on the front of the manifesto – Change – really means. And you might be forgiven for feeling rather blindsided. Because the tax and spending plans outlined today by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the first Labour budget

The budget will increase taxes by £40bn, with the lion’s share coming from a £25bn rise in employers’ national insurance contributions, the chancellor has announced at the budget. The rise is bigger than predicted but Rachel Reeves added there would be measures to protect small businesses from the change. Ms Reeves, who said she was

👉 Listen to Politics At Jack And Sam’s on your podcast app👈 Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard share their daily guide to the day ahead in politics in under 20 minutes. Today, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers the first Labour budget in 15 years. She’s looking to close a £40bn

The Labour manifesto never did add up. On the one hand, Keir Starmer vowed there would be “no return to austerity” under his government, while also insisting he had “no plans” to raise taxes beyond an £8bn raid on private equity, oil and gas companies, private school fees and non-doms to pay for more teachers

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard share their daily guide to the day ahead in politics in under 20 minutes.  👉 Tap here to follow Politics At Jack And Sam’s wherever you get your podcasts 👈 The chancellor will deliver the first Labour budget in 15 years tomorrow. It will

Kemi Badenoch has suggested she will offer all six candidates in the Tory leadership race a job in her shadow cabinet if she is elected leader. The Tory leadership hopeful, who is competing against Robert Jenrick to become the next head of the Tory party, said she “did not know” if they would like the

Mike Amesbury has been suspended by the Labour Party after CCTV footage showed him punching a man in the street. A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Mike Amesbury MP has been assisting Cheshire Police with their inquiries following an incident on Friday night. “As these inquiries are now ongoing, the Labour Party has administratively suspended Mr

People will not face higher taxes on their payslips after the budget, a cabinet minister said, as she refused to be drawn on what measures could be in the £40bn revenue raiser. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson repeatedly said she could not speculate on how Chancellor Rachel Reeves intends to fill the black hole in the

Mayors are set to be one of the big winners in the budget after Sir Keir Starmer personally intervened to ensure they have more freedom to spend cash and boost growth, Sky News understands. England’s dozen metro mayors have been working together to push the prime minister, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner for more powers

A Labour MP has said he was involved in an incident where he “felt threatened” and is cooperating with police. Mike Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, said he felt “threatened on the street following an evening out with friends” on Friday night in Cheshire. “This morning, I contacted Cheshire Police myself to report

The UK has agreed to step up its partnership with Albania following a successful summer in which the two countries carried out a collaborative crackdown on drugs and crime. Senior Home Office officials will travel to Tirana, the capital of Albania, for further talks before Christmas on how to tackle serious and organised crime, as

Newly elected MPs are struggling to set up offices in their constituencies due to fears for their safety and spiralling rents, Sky News has learnt. Several MPs who spoke to Sky News said they believed landlords were becoming increasingly reluctant to have them as tenants due to the perceived risks that came with the job

Who counts as a working person will matter a lot next week when the new Labour government unveils what is being billed as a historic budget. Sir Keir Starmer used the phrase “working people” repeatedly in the general election as he sought to reassure voters he wasn’t going to raise their taxes. But as this

Apologising for the UK’s role in the slave trade is “not on the agenda,” Downing Street has said amid the row engulfing the Commonwealth summit. The prime minister has called the transatlantic slave trade “abhorrent” but ruled out reparations as he said countries affected would rather the UK help them with current issues, such as

Public investment in new technologies and the energy transition is “badly needed” to drive growth in the UK and prevent the national debt rising to risky levels, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. Speaking as Rachel Reeves travelled to Washington to attend her first IMF annual meeting as chancellor, the body identified the UK

Sir Keir Starmer has rejected calls for reparations for slavery, saying it would lead to “very long, endless discussions” about the past. The prime minister said while the transatlantic slave trade was “abhorrent”, he believes the countries affected by it would rather the UK help them with contemporary challenges, such as the impact of climate

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted his relationship with Donald Trump has not been jeopardised after the Trump team filed a legal complaint against the Labour Party over its activists travelling to the US to support Kamala Harris in the tightly fought US presidential race. The prime minister said on Tuesday he had “established a good

One prisoner let out today under the government’s early release scheme celebrated by saying “big up Keir Starmer”. But Number 10 did not see the funny side of the situation – with the prime minister’s spokesperson saying Sir Keir “shares the public’s anger” over the matter. Today is the second time the Labour government has

Many leading politicians are fond of talking about having been on a journey. But Kemi Badenoch’s journey has been longer and more eventful than most. From the leafy London suburb of Wimbledon to Nigeria in West Africa and back to south London, and from the socialist hotbed of Sussex University to the rural idyll of

Tougher punishments outside prison are being considered as part of a government review into sentencing. The review will be launched on Tuesday by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood in a bid to ease overcrowding in the prison system. Led by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke, the review will be activated on the same day that