Politics

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney has expressed “cautious optimism” talks between the UK and Brussels to resolve the dispute over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland will restart within weeks. Private conversations he and the country’s prime minister Micheal Martin had had with Liz Truss’s recently installed administration indicated there was an opportunity for a “new

An official Chinese delegation has been barred from attending the Queen’s lying in state. House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will prevent access to Westminster Hall because of sanctions imposed by Beijing against a group of MPs and peers, a parliamentary source told the PA news agency. It came as crowds continued to pay

After the death of the Queen was announced last Thursday, MPs and peers stepped away from Parliament to observe a period of mourning for the monarch. But when they return to work in Westminster next week after the state funeral, they will have to hit the ground running with a busy in-tray of events and

The government will deliver a mini-budget on 23 September, Sky News understands. It is expected that details of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s plans to help households and business amid the cost of living crisis will be revealed. The new PM had vowed to hold an “emergency budget” during the Conservative Party’s leadership race “to get

A leading trade union has written to the head of staff at King Charles’s former household calling for him to halt planned job cuts at Clarence House. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), the sixth largest union in the UK, has written to King Charles’s Principal Private Secretary Sir Clive Alderton, asking him to

Members of the public are queuing for hours to see the Queen lying in state – but MPs can skip the long wait. A House of Commons spokesperson confirmed that Members of Parliament can view the Queen‘s coffin without having to queue for miles – and can also bring up to four guests. Parliamentary House

Sir Keir Starmer has urged anti-monarchy protesters to “respect” people mourning the Queen and not “ruin” their experience. The Labour leader spoke out amid controversy over a small number of protesters being arrested during royal ceremonies. Sir Keir said protest was a “great British tradition” but that hundreds of thousands of people wanted to have

Businesses will learn next week about how the government will help them to navigate the energy crisis. A spokesman for Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday that the scheme will help businesses with October bills and will be backdated if the implementation is delayed. He said: “We will confirm further details of the business

An MP who travelled between London and Scotland in 2020 in breach of COVID rules has been told by a court to undertake a 270-hour community payback order. Last month, in a hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier admitted that she culpably and recklessly exposed the public to risk of COVID-19 infection.

King Charles III paid tribute to the Queen and said he feels the “weight of history which surrounds us” as he addressed parliament for the first time as monarch. In the speech, he quoted William Shakespeare in a tribute to his late mother, saying: “As Shakespeare said of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was a

Liz Truss will visit the devolved nations with King Charles this week as the monarch leads the UK through a period of national mourning. Both the new prime minister and the King will head to Scotland on Monday morning, followed by visits to Northern Ireland on Tuesday and Wales on Friday. Downing Street said Ms

Liz Truss will visit the devolved nations with King Charles this week as the monarch leads the UK through a period of national mourning. Both the new prime minister and the King will head to Scotland on Monday morning, followed by visits to Northern Ireland on Tuesday and Wales on Friday. While King Charles and

In a “hot-mic moment” captured by Sky News in 2014, then prime minister David Cameron revealed that the Queen “purred down the line” when he told her a majority of Scots had voted against independence. Mr Cameron privately apologised and later called the remarks “a terrible mistake”. Yet they provided the rarest glimpse of an

Senior MPs have pledged their allegiance to King Charles III in a rare Saturday Commons sitting. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle was the first to do so. He was followed by Father of the House, the longest serving male MP, Conservative Sir Peter Bottomley. Then came the Mother of the House, the longest serving female

King Charles III will be formally proclaimed monarch today at an Accession Council which will be televised for the first time in history. The King will make his declaration and oath in St James’s Palace at 10am. He will be joined by the Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge as well as the Queen Consort, Camilla,

Liz Truss has faced constant tests in the infancy of her premiership.  Forty-eight hours after being appointed by the Queen, the PM had to lead a nation in paying tribute to her. Today the Commons chamber was a sea of black as MPs stood for a minute’s silence, and the prime minister was again tasked

MPs have paid tribute to the Queen in the House of Commons, with Boris Johnson making his first appearance since stepping down as prime minister, asking the public to “think what we asked of her and think what she gave”. His successor, Liz Truss, the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and the Speaker, Sir Lindsay

The King told Liz Truss the death of the Queen was a moment he had “been dreading”, as he held his first audience with the prime minister at Buckingham Palace. King Charles III shook Ms Truss’s hand as he welcomed her to the first of what will be their weekly meetings. Discussions between the monarch

Prime Minister Liz Truss has led tributes to the Queen following her death, saying she was “the rock on which modern Britain was built”. In an address in Downing Street, Ms Truss, who has only been in Number 10 for 48 hours, said: “Britain is the great country it is today because of her.” She

The biggest, most expensive policy Liz Truss will ever announce has landed.  Voters will probably like it, sensing the alternative would be ruin for millions. Her MPs will cheer it, knowing that a failure or delay to act would be electoral ruin. The consequences of today’s announcement will be felt for decades because of the