Politics

What is it about politicians and driving fines? In 2012 Lib Dem minister Chris Huhne resigned from the coalition government after his then-wife took speeding points for him. They both ended up in prison for perverting the course of justice. In 2019, Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was jailed and ejected from parliament for the same

A Tory mayor has said there should be “no compromise” when it comes to standards in public life following accusations the home secretary may have breached the ministerial code over a speeding fine. Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, said there “have to be standards in public life” as Rishi Sunak comes under

It has not been a great week for Suella Braverman. It began on Monday with her making an inflammatory speech to activists, which Tory MPs saw as a shameless leadership bid, and then being told by colleagues to stick to the day job. And it ended with embarrassing reports on Saturday evening that she asked

Rishi Sunak has said attacks on his wealth do not bother him despite the Labour Party’s attempts to make him appear out of touch. The prime minister was asked about Labour’s attack ads against him while visiting Japan for the G7 summit. He said that while he notices the attacks at Prime Minister’s Questions from

More than 23,000 died in A&E in England last year, figures obtained by Labour show. The opposition party has released data it obtained through freedom of information requests, which shows an increase in deaths compared to previous years. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine previously said 23,000 “excess patient deaths” may have occurred partly due

Rishi Sunak has vowed to bring the level of net migration down to below the 500,000 figure he “inherited” as prime minister. Mr Sunak said he was “focused” on cutting the level of net migration, which stood at 504,000 for the year to June 2022. He became prime minister in October of that year. He

Rishi Sunak will announce a ban on Russian diamonds coming to Britain as the prime minister and other G7 leaders step up sanctions against Putin. The diamond ban is part of a wider package of sanctions as the prime minister and allies use the annual G7 summit in Tokyo to redouble support for Ukraine. Sanctions

A £10bn investment from water companies to stop sewage spills will be paid for by customers through “modest increases to their bills”. Ruth Kelly, chair of Water UK, told Sky News that water firms will provide a “huge multi-billion down-payment” to start “the biggest transformation project since Victorian times”. She added: “The way the system

Rishi Sunak has laid out his goals ahead of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The PM is set to touchdown in the early hours of the morning on Thursday UK time. It comes hot on the heels of his visit to Iceland for the Council of Europe summit. Politics latest:PM responds to Nigel Farage’s

Rishi Sunak has rejected Liz Truss’s calls for Taiwan to be fast-tracked into a trans-Pacific trading bloc. The UK is in the process of joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which includes countries like Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Chile and Japan. Both China and Taiwan have applied to join the bloc

Former prime minister Liz Truss will call for her successor Rishi Sunak to say China is a “threat” to UK security. Ms Truss will be speaking in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, where she is expected to say that Mr Sunak should deliver on language he used during last summer’s Conservative Party leadership contest. He had described

The government has insisted it is committed to making sure there is no “dirty money” in the UK as the Tories faced questions over business tycoon and Tory donor Javad Marandi. Mr Marandi was described as a “person of importance” in a National Crime Agency’s investigation into the so-called “Azerbaijani Laundromat” – and lost a

Rishi Sunak is calling for changes to the international law which experts think his Illegal Migration Bill will break. The prime minister is in Iceland for a Council of Europe summit on Tuesday, where he will meet with heads of European Union countries and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Mr Sunak said the

A protester has been hauled off stage after interrupting a speech by senior Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg to warn about “fascism”. The former Business Secretary was addressing the National Conservativism conference when a man joined him at the lectern and told the audience: “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re very nice people and I’m sure you

The Tories have a “great opportunity” with a mood of “steely determination”, cabinet minister Grant Shapps has told Sky News, despite a local election drubbing and party infighting. Speaking on the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, the energy secretary also said he “completely and fundamentally” disagreed that the Conservatives cannot come back and win. Former

Sir Keir Starmer is promising his planned reforms of the Labour Party will be like New Labour’s famous Clause IV “on steroids”. In a speech on Saturday, the Labour leader drew comparisons with Sir Tony Blair’s controversial 1995 decision to abandon the party’s founding commitment to nationalisation in favour of his New Labour agenda. Sir

Priti Patel will accuse Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of presiding over the “managed decline” of the Conservative Party in a speech today. The former home secretary is one of the keynote speakers at the launch of a new grassroots movement – the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO). Set up by backers of Boris Johnson, the new

A well-connected Tory police and crime commissioner triggered two different police investigations into political opponents in recent weeks, Sky News can reveal.  Steve Turner, PCC for Cleveland, was attempting to become a Tory councillor in Redcar in the Tees Valley, in addition to his existing £73,300 role overseeing the area’s police service. During the campaign,

Harriet Harman, the chair of parliament’s partygate inquiry, was in personal contact with Sir Keir Starmer’s incoming chief of staff Sue Gray while she was still a civil servant. In the early stages of the parliamentary probe, the veteran Labour MP privately said of her fact-finding efforts: “I just speak to Sue.” Sky News understands

Boris Johnson considered sending Rishi Sunak a foul-mouthed video after he resigned and triggered his downfall, the former PM’s former director of communications has claimed. Guto Harri, who advised Mr Johnson from February to September last year, said Mr Johnson believed Mr Sunak’s decision to resign last summer was “the great betrayal of all time”,