Politics

The House of Commons Speaker has refused to reveal why MPs want their attendance records at parliament deleted – a move to block information campaigners say the public has a “right to know”. It was decided earlier this year that the records of when MPs used their passes to access the Houses of Parliament should

Liz Truss, the Conservative leadership frontrunner, has been criticised after accusing the civil service of having a “woke” culture that “strays into antisemitism”. The foreign secretary also referred to “setting up your own business” as being a “Jewish value”. Speaking on Sky News, Steven Littlewood, the assistant general secretary of the civil service union the

Rishi Sunak has unveiled a plan to slash rising energy bills for up to 16 million vulnerable people which he hopes will propel him to 10 Downing Street. In a dramatic move as his Tory leadership clash with Liz Truss becomes increasingly bitter, he is said to be prepared to find up to £10bn to

Labour has vowed to stop “outrageous” premiums that energy prepayment meter customers face. The pledge is part of a package of measures to tackle the cost of living crisis which Sir Keir Starmer’s party is set to unveil. It comes as Boris Johnson doubled down on his insistence that it is for his successor to

The Northern Ireland Protocol has been at the heart of UK politics for the past couple of years. Since the Brexit transition period ended on 31 December 2020 the protocol has been a point of friction between Westminster, Belfast and the EU. Now, nationalist party Sinn Fein has make history by becoming the first nationalist

Nicola Sturgeon has been spoken to by police to “remind her of the importance of wearing a face covering when there is a legal requirement to do so”, Police Scotland has said. The Scottish first minister has apologised for what she said was “a few seconds” without a face covering and said officers were “absolutely

Boris Johnson is preparing to set out his “version of events” on partygate as he faces MPs this week for the first time since being fined as a result of a police investigation. Mr Johnson is expected to update the House of Commons on the affair as parliament resumes following the Easter break – after

New allegations have emerged regarding lockdown parties in Downing Street – with Labour claiming Boris Johnson has “deliberately misled the British people at every turn”. The prime minister has already been fined once for breaking COVID rules on his birthday in 2020, but that is said to be regarded as the least problematic of a

The government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is “opposite the nature of God”, the Archbishop of Canterbury will say. Reverend Justin Welby will use his Easter Sunday sermon to criticise the government scheme that will see refugees who reach the UK through illegal routes deported to Rwanda. He is expected to say that

The Home Secretary has issued a “ministerial direction” in relation to the Rwanda asylum plan, overruling concerns from her own civil servants, Sky News understands. Ministerial directions are used when the top civil servant in a department has objected to the costs or feasibility of a spending plan. A Home Office source said: “Home Office

In our analysis of the government’s new plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, we’ve looked at the moral and legal implications as well as the cost. There is one thing we’ve overlooked, though, and that is how those changes will impact the country which the government says will process “tens of thousands” of asylum

Coming two days after the prime minister was fined for breaking his own lockdown rules, today’s eye-catching asylum announcement has been greeted by many as a cynical attempt to change the subject. In reality, this unveiling has been in the offing for a while, with details of the home secretary’s trip to Rwanda pencilled in

Boris Johnson said he will face the Commons next week to “set the record straight” over his partygate fine – as more of his MPs called on him to quit. The prime minister apologised earlier this week after he was ordered to pay a £50 fixed penalty for attending a birthday gathering in Downing Street

Conservative peer David Wolfson has quit as justice minister over the “scale, context and nature” of breaches of COVID regulations in Downing Street. Lord Wolfson said in a letter to Boris Johnson he was quitting not only over the events themselves, or the prime minister’s “own conduct,” but also “the official response to what took

Two people suspected of illegally leaking CCTV footage of Matt Hancock and his aide Gina Coladangelo will not be prosecuted due to insufficient evidence, the information watchdog said. The footage leaked to the Sun last year, showing Mr Hancock kissing Ms Coladangelo in his departmental office, led to him resigning as health secretary for breaking

More than half of voters think that Boris Johnson should resign as prime minister after he was fined by police over partygate allegations. The prime minister attended his own birthday party in the Cabinet room in Downing Street in June 2020, when the rest of the country was under coronavirus restrictions. On Tuesday, Mr Johnson