Politics

A new tax on gambling firms and maximum stakes for online slot machines are being considered under government plans to crack down on online addiction. The government is due to publish its highly anticipated gambling review on Thursday following a number of delays. Among the measures expected to be confirmed in the report is a

The behaviour of people arriving in the UK on small boats is “at odds with British values”, the home secretary has claimed. Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Suella Braverman said people making the dangerous Channel crossing – who include asylum seekers – were “behaving unacceptably” by “breaking our rules” and “abusing the generosity of the

The government is confident it is “on track” to meet its manifesto pledge of recruiting 20,000 new police officers, the home secretary has said. The promise was made as part of the government’s 2019 manifesto – but critics have pointed out that it has already missed the deadline, which was set for March this year.

Rishi Sunak must stand up for the civil service after Dominic Raab’s resignation over bullying complaints from his staff, a former Foreign Office chief has said. Mr Raab quit his roles in government last week after two complaints were upheld against him for acting in an “intimidating way” and being “unreasonably and persistently aggressive” in

Spiking someone’s drink or injecting them with drugs or alcohol will be made a specific offence under Labour, Sir Keir Starmer has announced.  Labour would bring in the measure if it wins power as part of its plan to clamp down on violence against women and girls. Sir Keir said that in a roundtable with

The government will take a nursing union to court next week in an attempt to stop its latest strike action. Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are due to walk-out for 48 hours from 8pm on Sunday night until 8pm on Tuesday 2 May after rejecting the latest pay offer from the government.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he “utterly condemns” comments made by MP Diane Abbott in which she suggested Jews, Irish people and travellers do not face racism. Ms Abbott, who has been a Labour MP since the 1980s, was yesterday suspended from the parliamentary party pending an investigation into her remarks, which were

The deputy prime minister has said police will “take all necessary steps” to prevent any disruption to the King’s coronation by anti-monarchist campaigners. Activists are planning to disrupt the ceremony by setting off rape alarms and throwing them at horses taking part in the procession, according to a report in The Mail on Sunday. The

Rishi Sunak should remove the whip from Dominic Raab to avoid sending the message that “bullying is somehow OK”, the Liberal Democrats have said. Party leader Sir Ed Davey said the government should take the action – which would force Mr Raab to sit as an independent in the Commons – if he is not

The Scottish National Party (SNP) has appointed MP Stuart McDonald as its new treasurer following the resignation of Colin Beattie on Wednesday. Mr Beattie stepped down after he was arrested in connection with an investigation into the party’s finances. He was subsequently released without charge pending further enquiries. His arrest came after the party’s former

Nurses are being “treated as criminals” for going on strike, a union leader has claimed. Pat Cullen, the head of the Royal College of Nurses (RCN), described health secretary Steve Barclay’s decision to “pursue legal action” over the union’s upcoming strike as “cruel” and “unacceptable”. Members of the (RCN) working for the NHS in England

Viewers of Sky News might have noticed the tone of the coverage of Dominic Raab’s resignation evolve as the morning went on. At the point of the announcement of his departure, all we had was Mr Raab’s resignation letter. Bluntly, it appeared about as graceless as possible by the standards of most resignation letters. The

Dominic Raab says in his resignation letter as deputy prime minister it is “important to keep my word”, but adds the inquiry into bullying claims against him sets a “dangerous precedent”. In the lengthy two-page letter to Rishi Sunak, he reveals that senior lawyer Adam Tolley upheld two of the eight allegations against him. Mr

Is this the week in which it could be claimed that Rishi Sunak has become a prime minister like Boris Johnson? On Monday, Mr Sunak faced allegations of dodgy declarations of financial interests. On Wednesday, he hurled Johnson-style insults at Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions and caved in to right-wing Tory MPs on

Ministers will be allowed to block judges from stopping deportation flights in some situations under plans to toughen the illegal migration bill, Sky News understands. Rishi Sunak has reached a deal with a group of right-wing Tory MPs who had threatened to rebel if the prime minister did not harden the controversial legislation. It is

The Scottish National Party (SNP) is being investigated by police who are looking into where funds meant for a second independence referendum have gone. The inquiry, named Operation Branchform, was launched in 2021 but ramped up in April as former chief executive Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon’s husband, and SNP treasurer Colin Beattie were arrested. Launched

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Shona Robison has told Sky News a “culture was allowed to develop” at SNP HQ amid a scandal about transparency. Ms Robison denied Nicola Sturgeon had overall responsibility for the governance scandal – despite her being party leader for eight years. She said the party needs to “get its house in

A fundamental change to the voting system in England is coming. Brought in with little fanfare but potentially huge consequences, a new requirement for voters to show photo ID for the first time could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of people. The rule change was a Conservative manifesto pledge, and parliament approved the change. But as

SNP treasurer Colin Beattie has been arrested by police investigating the party’s funding and finances. In a statement, Police Scotland said: “A 71-year-old man has today, Tuesday, 18 April 2023, been arrested as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National Party. “The man is in

Parliament’s standards watchdog has opened an investigation into the prime minister over possible failure to declare an interest. The probe by the standards commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, was launched on 13 April and cited paragraph 6 of the MPs code of conduct, which governs how MPs should behave. The code states that “members must always be