UK

A minister has refused to apologise for the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, after a highly-critical report by MPs said thousands of lives were lost due to delays and mistakes by both ministers and their scientific advisers. “We followed, throughout, the scientific advice. We got the vaccine deployed extremely quickly, we protected our NHS

The family of a care worker who could have been saved following the Manchester Arena bombing has refused to accept an apology from the senior paramedic on the night of the attack. The family of John Atkinson, 28, from Bury, Greater Manchester, said “mistake after mistake was made, and precious time was allowed to ebb

The Metropolitan Police are taking no further action after reviewing allegations connected to Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein. The force had assessed a document released in August 2021 as part of Virginia Giuffre‘s US lawsuit against the Duke of York. Ms Guiffre is suing him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager

COVID-19 and flu are co-circulating this year for the first time and those who catch both are twice as likely to die, early evidence suggests. Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), also warned that there could be multiple strains of flu ahead of an uncertain winter. Speaking to Trevor Phillips

The UK government has approved visas for a group of young female footballers from Afghanistan. The girls had fled to Pakistan after their country fell to the Taliban in August, and it was from there that they had told Sky News that they were desperate to find safety in the UK. At the time, they

A newborn baby has been rescued by the RNLI after surviving a nine-hour journey across the Channel made by a group of migrants on Saturday. Sky News witnessed the newborn girl, named Ayyan and wrapped in a blanket, being handed to a police officer on the shore in Dungeness, Kent, after making the potentially treacherous

A phone service to help protect women as they walk home is reportedly being backed by Home Secretary Priti Patel. The proposed service would allow people to use an app or dial/text 888 to trigger GPS tracking. It would give an expected journey time, with automatic alerts sent to emergency contacts such as friends and

Around one in six adults in Britain have been unable to buy essential food items in the last fortnight, representing up to eight million people – new figures indicate. Some 17% of adults said they had not been able to purchase such goods because they were not available, according to newly released data from the

Motorists have reacted with fury after Insulate Britain protesters blocked the M25 during rush hour – as climate activists also halt traffic at a key London roundabout. Demonstrators are holding a protest at Junction 25 of the M25 at Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, causing long queues. One woman caught up in the tailback told demonstrators they

Council tax may need to rise by up to 5% a year for the next three years – the latest in a long list of warnings that the cost of living is expected to increase substantially. The forecast comes from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), which said that, under government spending plans, a rise

The UK has recorded 39,851 new COVID cases and 143 coronavirus-related deaths in the latest 24-hour period, government data shows. It is the highest number of daily infections reported since 6 September – when 41,192 cases were recorded. The latest figures compare with 33,869 COVID-19 infections and 166 fatalities recorded yesterday, and 36,722 cases and

French fishermen have threatened to blockade the port of Calais and cut off Christmas supplies in a post-Brexit fishing row. They claim they have been “deceived” by the British government over fishing licence applications and have called on the European Commission to take “retaliatory measures”. The president of the fishing committee for the northern Hauts-de-France

The UK has recorded 33,869 new COVID-19 cases and a further 166 coronavirus-related deaths in the latest 24-hour period, according to government data. The figures compare with 35,077 COVID-19 infections and 33 fatalities reported yesterday, and 34,526 cases and 167 deaths recorded this time last week. The number of people in hospital with the disease

The mother of a teenager who was shot dead in the street says her hopes are fading that her son’s killer will ever be caught – and believes police have “prioritised” other murder cases. Cherie Nedd told Sky News that her 18-year-old son Ethan Nedd-Bruce “was just coming home” when he was attacked outside a

A nurse has denied murdering eight babies and the attempted murder of 10 others over the period of a year. Lucy Letby, who worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit, entered her plea at Manchester Crown Court earlier today. The 31-year-old pleaded “not guilty” 18 times as the charges were put to her

Nearly half of the toys purchased from third-party sellers via online marketplaces were unsafe for children to play with, a new study has found. The report commissioned by the British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA) found many of the potential gifts could choke, strangle, burn, poison and electrocute children. Out of the 255 toys that were