Politics

Councils are calling on the new prime minister to honour her promise to put £13 billion into social care, as government plans to scrap the newly introduced national insurance levy were confirmed. Ahead of today’s mini-budget, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said the tax hike – introduced in April to pay for social care and tackle the

People working part-time will face cuts to their benefits if they do not look for extra hours, the chancellor is set to announce. As part of his mini-budget on Friday, Kwasi Kwarteng will say claimants working up to 15 hours a week on the National Living Wage will have to take “active steps” to increase

Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats are part of a desperate attempt to justify his “catastrophic” failure in Ukraine, Liz Truss has said. In her first speech on the world stage as prime minister, Ms Truss accused the Russian president of “sabre rattling” after he warned his country would use “all the means at our disposal” to

Liz Truss did not discuss the Northern Ireland Protocol or migrant crossings of the Channel during her meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Downing Street has said. Number 10 said the prime minister had a “constructive” conversation lasting around half an hour with the French leader, but it focused on energy security rather than the

Joe Biden will tell Liz Truss she must work with the EU to find a negotiated outcome to the Northern Ireland Protocol when they meet later today, the White House has said. The US president and the prime minister will hold a delayed meeting in New York on Wednesday, where world leaders have assembled for

A by-election will be held this autumn in a strong Labour seat after Rosie Cooper announced she was stepping down as an MP after 17 years. The Labour MP, who has represented West Lancashire since 2005, said the announcement “will come as a surprise to many people” as she had recently secured reselection to stand

The UK will match the support it has provided to Ukraine this year in 2023,  Liz Truss has pledged.  Ukraine’s army has reclaimed swathes of occupied territory in the east of the country in recent weeks, forcing Russian troops to retreat. In her first foreign trip as prime minister, Ms Truss is expected to point

The government is considering introducing a fixed discount for businesses on the amount they are charged per kilowatt hour for energy as part of its plans to tackle soaring prices, reports suggest. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy did not deny the policy was on the table ahead of the government’s mini budget,

An investigation into whether Sir Keir Starmer broke COVID rules cost Durham Police over £100,000, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. The Labour leader faced accusations after being pictured drinking a beer in an MP’s office in April 2021, with the incident being dubbed “beergate” by the press. He and his team were later

Train drivers will resume strike action next month in a long-running dispute over pay. A planned walkout by the Aslef union on 15 September was called off as a mark of respect following the death of the Queen. But now, drivers at 12 train firms will go ahead with industrial action on 1 October and

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