Politics

Ambulances will be dispatched to “life-threatening” Category 1 calls during the two days of industrial action this month but may not attend if an elderly person has a fall, Health Secretary Steve Barclay has suggested. Asked whether an elderly individual who has had a fall will receive help on two strike dates – 21 and

Stephen Flynn has been named as the new leader of the Scottish National Party in Westminster, replacing Ian Blackford. The MP for Aberdeen South defeated Alison Thewliss for the top job at the SNP’s AGM on Tuesday and will face Rishi Sunak at Prime Minister’s Questions less than 24 hours later. Mr Flynn’s deputy will

Officials are in discussion with MPs about onshore wind farms amid a growing Conservative rebellion to lift the ban, a minister has confirmed. Schools minister Nick Gibb told Sky News that while “the emphasis is still on offshore wind”, ministers “continue to talk to members of Parliament” about their views on whether or not new

Michael Gove has watered down the government’s target to build 300,000 homes every year following an angry backlash from his own party’s MPs. A Commons vote on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill had to be dropped last month after 60 Conservatives signed an amendment calling for the mandatory target to be scrapped. But the

Sir Keir Starmer will promise the “biggest ever transfer of power from Westminster to the British people”, as the Labour leader launches a report recommending handing new economic, taxation and law-making powers to mayors and devolved governments. The report on the UK’s future, carried out by former prime minister Gordon Brown, also recommends sweeping constitutional

The home secretary has pledged to do “whatever it takes” to deal with the “small boats problem” in the Channel. Writing a foreword to a report by the centre-right Centre for Policy Studies think tank – which has called for new laws stopping migrants who enter illegally from ever settling in the UK – Suella

Albanians should be barred from claiming asylum in the UK, the Immigration Minister has said. Robert Jenrick said such individuals should be “excluded from the right to claim asylum” as they are coming from a “demonstrably safe” country. Current levels of migration into the UK were “unsustainable,” he said. His comments came as the Home

As a winter of strike action looms, and a growing list of unions threaten to grind the county to a halt, the PM is under pressure. Rishi Sunak is attempting a more constructive, less combative, approach with the unions. A government source said the meetings involving Mick Lynch and the transport secretary and rail minister

A review into tackling late payments for small companies from larger, more powerful firms has been launched by the government. Business Secretary Grant Shapps said delayed payments are a “real barrier” to improved productivity and job creation amid the current challenging economic situation. Large firms such as GlaxoSmithKline have been criticised by the government’s Small

Sajid Javid has announced he will not stand in the next general election, saying being an MP had been “the privilege of [his] life”. The former chancellor, who has held a number of senior roles in government alongside his Bromsgrove seat, is the most high-profile Tory MP to decide to step down at the next

This wasn’t just a bad result for the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak, it was a disaster. The Tory share of the vote in the City of Chester by-election slumped to only 22.4%. Tory MPs in red wall seats in the north of England will be even more despondent about their prospects at the next general

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said whenever we see racism “we must confront it” following the race row engulfing Buckingham Palace. A black domestic abuse campaigner from London said she was repeatedly asked where she “really came from” by Prince William‘s godmother during a reception at the palace this week. Although he refused to comment

The government is running out of prison places and has had to ask police for 400 cells to make sure there is enough accommodation for the prison population. Prisons minister Damian Hinds told MPs there had been an “acute and sudden increase in the prison population” in recent months and, as a result, the Operation

China’s military advances could “eventually lead to a clash” and the UK has been “asleep” to the threat it poses for the last 30 years, an influential Tory MP has warned. Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the defence select committee, said Beijing is “taking advantage of a timid West” and Rishi Sunak’s speech declaring the

The ancient Romans considered Chester as strategically important as London. This week, it is arguably just as central to Labour and the Conservatives.  People in this affluent northern city will vote in the first Westminster by-election since Boris Johnson departed, the pound crashed, and Rishi Sunak replaced Liz Truss as prime minister. The contest was triggered

Aboard the Lady Diana, a tourist river cruise through Chester, there is little talk of the upcoming by-election: “We don’t do politics here”, captain Paul Blessing tells me, chuckling.  But dig a little deeper, and you will find strong views on everything from shops closing to sewage in the River Dee, queues at A&E and

Rishi Sunak has called last orders on the UK government’s cosy relationship with China. The UK needs to “evolve our approach” to China, he declared at the sumptuous Lord Mayor’s Banquet at the Guildhall in the City of London. The so-called “golden era” is over, he said, “along with the naive idea that trade would

Rishi Sunak could back down on his position to ban new onshore wind farms amid a growing Tory rebellion, a cabinet minister has suggested. Ex-prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss are among some 30 Conservatives backing former cabinet secretary Simon Clarke’s pro-wind amendment to the Levelling Up Bill. Business Secretary Grant Shapps denied the

The government will spend an extra £1bn to insulate the least energy-efficient homes in the UK, the business secretary has announced. Grant Shapps said the new Eco+ scheme was aimed at middle earners who do not benefit from any other government support to upgrade homes. Labour criticised it as a “reheated announcement with no new

Inflation-busting pay rises are “unaffordable”, cabinet minister Mark Harper has told Sky News in the face of strikes in the public sector. The transport secretary said there “simply isn’t the money” to fund such wage hikes, even in line with rising prices, given the current economic situation and state of the public finances in the