Politics

Junior doctors in England will strike for five consecutive days in July, in what is thought to be the longest single period of industrial action in the history of the health service. The British Medical Association (BMA) said the five-day walkout would be between 7am on Thursday 13 July and 7am on Tuesday 18 July.

Sky News political editor Beth Rigby analyses the week’s big stories, including the pressure piling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to get inflation under control. Rigby speaks to Sir Elton John’s husband, filmmaker David Furnish – who chairs the musician’s AIDS foundation – about the work the organisation is doing in Ukraine, and the irony

In leafy South West Surrey, traditional Tory ground, we are taking the public temperature. “It’s very hard to vote Conservative at the moment”, 49-year-old Penny tells us. “You just can’t ignore the last two years”. This is the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s seat (8,800 majority). Voters here are affluent, home-owning, traditional Conservatives, the sort of people

Halving inflation by the end of year is “hard but not impossible”, the prime minister has said, in a comment on his pledge earlier in the year to do so. The prime minister was speaking to the Times CEO summit shortly after the surprise hiking of interest rates by the Bank of England on Thursday

Delays to HS2 announced by the government earlier this year in order to help ‘balance the books’ are likely to cost the taxpayer at least £366 million, according to new analysis exclusively leaked to Sky News. The government briefing also predicts the two-year pause to construction work on a key section is actually set to

Labour has unveiled a five-point plan to tackle the mortgage crisis – but Rishi Sunak is insisting that “beating inflation has to be the priority”. The Opposition and the prime minister were speaking ahead of the Bank of England preparing to hike interests rate yet again after inflation in the UK defied expectations and failed

Another of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s five key priorities for 2023 is in doubt as national debt reached 100% of GDP. The third of the government’s five targets is to reduce the national debt but official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed it increased in May to the highest in more than

Rishi Sunak is facing a by-election triple threat after the Somerton and Frome vote was scheduled for 20 July. The announcement comes after David Warburton formally left the House of Commons on Monday. The election will take place on the same day as Boris Johnson’s vacated Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat, and Nigel Adams’ Selby

To the very end, Boris Johnson and his dwindling band of supporters – and Rishi Sunak and the Tory high command – were outwitted by the Labour Party in the parliamentary battle over partygate. At the beginning of the Privileges Committee process, back in April 2022, the Tories failed to spot the trap being laid

David Cameron was heckled with shouts of “shame on you” as he left the COVID inquiry after giving evidence. The former prime minister was questioned for more than two hours on Monday on how prepared the government was for a pandemic during his time in office. But as he left the hearing in London and

Sir Keir Starmer has said Boris Johnson should be banned from parliament over the partygate scandal, as he challenged the prime minister to “show leadership” on the matter. The Labour leader said it’s “important to know” where Rishi Sunak stands ahead of a vote on the report of the Commons’ Privileges Committee, which last week

Thousands of jobs could be created in Scotland under a Labour proposal to create a publicly-owned clean energy company with its headquarters north of the border, the leader of the opposition has said. Sir Keir Starmer set out his proposal to launch Great British Energy (GBN) during his party conference speech in Liverpool last year

A Conservative MP embroiled in a scandal has announced he will stand down – triggering a by-election in his Somerton and Frome constituency. David Warburton was suspended from the party in April 2022 pending the outcome of an Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) investigation into allegations of harassment and drug abuse. Speaking to the

Conservative Party staff were filmed celebrating at their London headquarters during the height of the COVID lockdown. New footage, obtained by The Mirror, shows Tory Party staff at a Christmas party dancing, drinking and joking about Covid restrictions while lockdown rules were in place in December 2020. Two of those at the party were among

Boris Johnson has dramatically made a double retreat from all-out verbal war with Rishi Sunak over the damning report which concluded he lied to MPs over partygate. First, he has ordered his closest allies in the Commons not to vote against the privileges committee report that proposed a 90-day suspension if he had still been

Rishi Sunak is facing a potentially acrimonious vote on the Boris Johnson partygate report at the start of next week. A debate and vote on the report, published by the House of Commons Privileges Committee on Thursday, will take place on Monday – Mr Johnson‘s 59th birthday. But it will not be a gathering Mr