Politics

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

Government spending on storing personal protective equipment (PPE) in China increased by £2.35m in the year to January – as households struggle to make ends meet amid the cost of living crisis. According to data revealed by the Labour Party, the taxpayer paid £23.5m to store life-saving protective equipment from February 2021 to January 2022

Controversial Labour attack adverts targeting Rishi Sunak were not a mistake and there are more to come, a senior shadow cabinet member has told Sky News. Wes Streeting argued it was “absolutely right to take the gloves off” and hold the government to account for its record. The social media campaign in which the opposition

Escalating nurse strike action by withdrawing protection for emergency hospital care will endanger patient safety, a NHS leader has warned as the government said a “full and final” pay offer had been made to staff. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health trusts, also raised concerns over the possibility of nursing

The government is now able to play divide and conquer with England’s healthcare unions. There will be delight in Number 10 that three quarters of Unison members accepted the 5% pay offer, while the Royal College of Nursing’s rejection of the deal was far narrower (54%/46%). The two biggest unions now have contrasting strategies: Unison

Issues or errors surrounding the system of health assessments for benefits has contributed to the deaths of some claimants, MPs have heard. The Work and Pensions committee said they are “deeply concerned” people are still experiencing psychological distress because of the process – despite an inquiry five years ago highlighting “significant problems”. In a new

Boris Johnson quoted Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day in his final address to the Commons as prime minister.  “‘Hasta la vista, Baby’ – thank you”, he signed off to MPs last July. The quotation, literally “until the view” in Spanish, is usually taken to mean “until we meet again” – a

Members of the Royal College of Nursing are to go on strike again after they voted against the latest government pay offer. The result comes despite a recommendation from union leaders that they accept it and means there will be a round-the-clock 48-hour strike – without exemptions – from 8pm on 30 April to 8pm

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of being a “total fraud” and the “wettest Labour leader” on crime by government minister Chris Philp. Mr Philp, who is responsible for policing, attacked the Labour leader’s record on crime, claiming it was “worse” than that of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn. In response, Labour said Mr Philp “owes

So many different versions of what might have been in Belfast were considered in the planning for today’s visit by the US president.  If Stormont had been up and running, President Joe Biden would have gone there with Rishi Sunak. With power sharing still deadlocked, at one point they considered making a pointed trip to

Rishi Sunak says the relationship between the UK and US is “in great shape” after he held talks with Joe Biden, despite strong criticism of the president from one of Northern Ireland’s main parties. Mr Biden arrived in the region late last night for his trip to the island of Ireland to mark 25 years

Joe Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Rishi Sunak today after arriving in Northern Ireland last night to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Mr Sunak greeted Mr Biden after Air Force One landed at Belfast International Airport for the US president’s four-day visit to the island of Ireland. The two