Politics

A nursing union leader is calling on the prime minister to intervene on the evening of the biggest NHS walkout in history. Royal College of Nursing’s director for England, Patricia Marquis, has told Sky News that so far there has been no “direct contact” with Rishi Sunak despite four previous strike days. “It’s a cry

The Treasury has signalled there is no new money for defence despite recognising the urgent need to rearm in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine, defence sources have said. At the same time, the sources said a “refresh” of UK defence policy – that was meant to inform the spending plans of Chancellor Jeremy

Former prime minister Liz Truss has said she was never given a “realistic chance” to implement her radical tax-cutting agenda and blamed what she called a “powerful economic establishment” for removing her from Downing Street. In her first detailed comments since she was ousted from Number 10, Ms Truss said she had not appreciated the

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab should be suspended while he is investigated over bullying allegations, a former Conservative chairman has said. Mr Raab, who is also the justice secretary, is the subject of an inquiry after several civil servants made complaints, which Sir Jake Berry believes is enough for him to step aside from his

The prime minister is looking to ban people arriving in the UK via small boats from appealing against deportation, Sky News understands. Rishi Sunak has made stopping Channel migrant crossings one of his five priorities in office, promising to introduce new laws to “make sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are

“It’s not who you are but who you know” is a saying often used to explain why those with family connections to successful people seem to have a head start doing well in the next generation. In the US this phenomenon has led Gen Z to coin a new tag “nepo babies” as they list

The first 100 days of Rishi Sunak’s premiership are done – a yardstick that his predecessor Liz Truss never even reached, while Boris Johnson found himself utterly consumed with firefighting a pandemic. Mr Sunak can take some comfort in the fact he’s made it this far without a full-blown leadership crisis or an external global

A WhatsApp group once used to support Liz Truss’ leadership campaign has begun to see several MPs joining once again, sources have told Sky News. The former prime minister is said to be on manoeuvres with fellow like-minded MPs ahead of the Budget to lobby the government for tax cuts. And the revival of this

Labour is demanding the government publishes its promised progress report on “levelling up”, saying there is “no excuse for dodging scrutiny by both parliament and the public”. Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy has written to her government counterpart, Michael Gove, pointing to the pledge he made when launching the levelling up white paper one

A union leader has warned if the dispute over workers’ pay is not resolved, further industrial action “will be even bigger” and strikes will continue “right through the summer”. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of The Public and Commercial Services Union – one of the largest unions in the UK – told Sky News ministers should

Jeremy Hunt has faced a twin assault on tax cuts and fuel duty from Tory MPs ahead of his Budget in six weeks’ time. The chancellor was confronted at a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee on the same day a grim economic forecast put him under more pressure to cut taxes. Leading the onslaught

Rishi Sunak will reshuffle his cabinet this morning with Nadhim Zahawi set to be replaced as Conservative Party chair after he was sacked over his tax affairs, Sky News understands. The prime minister has been under pressure to pick the right candidate as he struggles to draw a line under ‘Tory sleaze’ allegations – despite

Downing Street has insisted that the UK’s economy is strong despite the International Monetary Fund’s warning that Britain’s economy will go into reverse this year and will fare worse than all other advanced nations. In its latest World Economic Outlook update, the IMF downgraded its UK gross domestic product (GDP) forecast once again, predicting a

Labour will push the government for an increase to the number of neighbourhood police officers on Tuesday, saying communities are facing 3,000 incidents of anti-social behaviour a day. In an opposition day debate in the Commons, the party will point to the latest crime statistics from the ONS, which showed 1.1 million incidents of anti-social

Support for trade unions is rising even though strike action is bringing public services to a standstill , Sky News polling shows. Industrial relations are at their most fractious since the 1980s, with the country having lost more than a million working days to strikes last year. Despite this, sympathy for striking public sector workers

Rishi Sunak has been urged by Labour to “come clean” over what he knew about Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs after the PM sacked the Tory party chairman on Sunday. An ethics inquiry into the handling of Mr Zahawi’s finances found a “serious breach” of the ministerial code and Mr Sunak swiftly removed the Tory chairman