Politics

Business leaders and think tanks have described Boris Johnson’s party conference speech as “economically illiterate”. The prime minister’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference on Wednesday came as many businesses are struggling with supply chain issues and a lack of workers. A shortage of HGV drivers has resulted in a shortage of fuel in some

Boris Johnson has branded levelling up “the greatest project that any government can embark on” in his closing speech at the Conservative Party’s annual conference. In his keynote address marking the end of the four-day event, the prime minister pledged that his top team will “get on with our job of uniting and levelling up

Boris Johnson will close his party’s conference in a rousing finale in which he will accuse his Tory predecessors of “drift and dither” and lacking the guts to tackle big problems. Bringing the conference to a barnstorming climax with his speech to the adoring Tory faithful on Wednesday, he will a promise a “long overdue”

Boris Johnson has said he cannot guarantee that targets to improve rape prosecution and conviction rates set out in the government’s Rape Review will be met. Plans set out in the report, which was commissioned in 2019 and published in June of this year, said the volume of rape cases going to court should return

Rape conviction rates are “disgracefully low”, Policing Minister Kit Malthouse has admitted, as he acknowledged that “there is a problem” with violence against women and girls. Speaking ahead of Home Secretary Priti Patel’s conference speech on Tuesday morning, Kit Malthouse told Sky News the government will “redouble our efforts” to make public spaces safer for

A Conservative Party member has been suspended after a woman said she was “violently assaulted” at the party’s conference. Clementine Cowton, director of external affairs at Octopus Energy Group, told a fringe event at the annual conference in Manchester that a “very intoxicated” man came and sat next to her at the Midland Hotel bar

Gordon Brown has pleaded with the government not to go ahead with a £20-a-week cut to universal credit. The former prime minister said: “It is not too late for the government to spare millions of people the choice between heating and eating this winter.” He cited research showing that 3.4 million households – or 6.3

Boris Johnson has not ruled out shortages continuing until Christmas, but said the festive period this year will be “considerably better” than last year. “I’m very confident this Christmas will be considerably better,” the prime minister said during a visit to a youth club in Manchester. Live updates from the Conservative Party conference When it

Boris Johnson has not ruled out a further relaxation of immigration rules to help ease the UK’s fuel and supply shortages – but the prime minister insisted he does not want to see a return to “a lot of low-wage immigration”. Amid the continuing queues at petrol stations across the country, the government has said

Boris Johnson has challenged Conservatives to take “big, bold decisions” as they gather for their party conference – but, ahead of the Manchester event, the prime minister is also being challenged over the fuel crisis, rising cost of living, supply issues and welfare cuts. More than 10,000 delegates are expected to attend the Tory conference

The golden rule of Boris Johnson’s Conservatives is that an otherwise disparate party is at its most happy when it’s talking about Brexit and its consequences. At times of stress, it’s the trump card the PM routinely reaches for. Given the stage of the country, expect it to feature heavily during the party conference. As

Boris Johnson has said he backs Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, who has faced calls to resign for her handling of the Sarah Everard case, and urged the public to “trust the police”. But the prime minister acknowledged “there is a problem” with how cases of rape and violence against women are handled. “I

The policing minister has said it would be “perfectly reasonable” for anyone being approached by a lone police officer to call 999 and seek reassurance in the wake of the rape and murder of Sarah Everard. Speaking to Sky News’ Kay Burley, Kit Malthouse gave advice on what people should do if they are approached

Sir Keir Starmer has said the Labour conference this week was a turning point for the party and it now has a “credible programme” to win the next general election. The Labour leader, speaking the morning after his 90-minute keynote speech, said if voters do not want to support the plans put forward at conference

The government’s coronavirus furlough scheme ends today after supporting millions of workers during the pandemic. Ministers say the wages of more than 11 million jobs were subsidised for at least some of the scheme’s duration, at a cost of about £70bn. There is now uncertainty over the almost one million people still thought to be

Sir Keir Starmer batted away hecklers during a mammoth speech in which he used his personal experiences to show off his human side as he announced a key climate change policy. Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, introduced Sir Keir before his conference speech by thanking the Labour leader for helping prosecute his