Politics

Rishi Sunak has said the crackdown on small boats crossing the Channel is needed as the current system that is being exploited is “unfair on the British people”. The prime minister described the new Illegal Migration Bill as “tough, but it is necessary and it is fair”. “This will always be a compassionate and generous

The home secretary has unveiled the new Illegal Migration Bill that will mean migrants arriving on small boats will be “removed swiftly”. Suella Braverman told the Commons: “They will not stop coming here until the world knows that if you enter Britain illegally you will be detained and swiftly removed back to your country, if

Refugees who arrive in the UK by small boat from today will be banned from claiming ­asylum or using human rights law to stop their removal. Home Secretary Suella Braverman is set to publish long-promised legislation on Channel crossings on Tuesday that she has admitted “pushes the boundaries of international law”. This will include preventing

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case described Boris Johnson as a “distrusted figure” during the COVID pandemic and warned the public were unlikely to follow isolation rules set out by him, leaked messages have revealed. Mr Case said to then health secretary Matt Hancock the public needed to be told to isolate by “trusted local figures, not

Matt Hancock has been branded “two-faced” and compared to a “headless chicken” by the former boss of the COVID vaccines taskforce. Dr Clive Dix said the outgoing Tory MP, who resigned as health secretary after being caught breaking social distancing rules to pursue an affair with an aide, was “the most difficult of all the

The Northern Ireland secretary has confirmed the “Stormont brake” revealed in the new Brexit deal would be a veto, not just a delay. Earlier this week, Rishi Sunak unveiled a fresh agreement with the EU to overcome trade barriers in Northern Ireland that he called a “decisive breakthrough”. As part of the Windsor Framework, a

Controversy over Boris Johnson’s involvement in partygate and COVID-19 rule-breaking has been dismissed as “soggy sandwiches and a slice of birthday cake” by an ally of the former prime minister. Tory MP Paul Bristow told Sky News the fine handed to Mr Johnson by Scotland Yard over a lockdown-busting gathering in Downing Street was “ridiculous”.

The “trial of Boris Johnson” – the televised hearings to determine whether the former prime minister lied to parliament – is now barely three weeks away, and after Friday’s document dump we know roughly what that confrontation will look like. And we know it will be explosive. MPs on the Tory-dominated privileges committee on Friday

Boris Johnson says he believed “implicitly” that he was following COVID rules after a committee of MPs said it would have been “obvious” the rules were being broken around him at Downing Street gatherings. He also suggested that Sue Gray, who led an earlier civil service report into parties and has just been appointed Sir Keir

Sue Gray has been appointed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to serve as his chief of staff. The senior civil servant became a household name during the partygate scandal, authoring the report which found “a failure of leadership and judgement” in Number 10 during Boris Johnson’s premiership. Conservative MPs and former cabinet ministers have

Matt Hancock has denounced what he said was a “massive betrayal and breach of trust” following the leaking of lockdown WhatsApp messages. The exchanges were published in The Daily Telegraph after he shared them with journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who worked with the former health secretary on his Pandemic Diaries book. In a lengthy statement, Mr

The UK’s foreign aid budget is being “raided” by the Home Office to cover the costs of hotel accommodation for refugees, a committee of MPs has claimed. A report from the International Development Committee said the world’s poorest countries were being “short-changed” by the government as the “political choice” was being made to spend the

Matt Hancock’s handling of the COVID pandemic has come under fresh scrutiny following a leaked trove of more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages. An investigation by The Daily Telegraph alleges the former health secretary rejected testing advice on care homes and expressed concern this could get in the way of meeting his targets. The MP strongly

Rishi Sunak has said his new post-Brexit deal puts Northern Ireland in an “unbelievably special position” because it gives it access to both the UK and European Union markets. The prime minister said implementing the newly negotiated Windsor Framework would create “the world’s most exciting economic zone” with international companies “queuing up to invest” in the

Rishi Sunak will continue to push forward with his new post-Brexit deal today as he seeks to convince politicians from Northern Ireland it will solve ongoing issues with trade and sovereignty. The prime minister signed the Windsor Framework on Monday, alongside European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, to make changes to the much debated

Rishi Sunak has negotiated a deal on Northern Ireland and Brexit which his predecessors Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Theresa May could not have secured. Having convinced the EU figures he was a serious prime minister they do business with, Mr Sunak has produced a deal that has already turned the heads and won the

The first female Speaker of the House of Commons, Betty Boothroyd, has died aged 93. Current Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle, said: “Not only was Betty Boothroyd an inspiring woman, but she was also an inspirational politician, and someone I was proud to call my friend. “To be the first woman Speaker was

After weeks of playing down expectations of an imminent Brexit agreement, Rishi Sunak is now setting the formal wheels in motion to lay out the deal he has struck with the EU. But there is still a big question about whether he has got the politics of this right on this side of the channel.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has told Sky News he would resign from the cabinet if bullying claims against him are upheld. The deputy prime minister is being investigated by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC over a string of formal complaints by civil servants about his conduct. Speaking to the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Mr

King Charles was lined up by Number 10 to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday – just as highly contentious negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol were poised to come to a head. After weeks of fraught talks and growing anger among Tory backbenchers and unionists, a deal between the UK