Politics

Britain’s foreign secretary is on a visit to Ukraine barely a fortnight after the prime minister said the UK will “play its full part” in securing a lasting peace, including by potentially deploying troops. With war with Russia still raging, David Lammy’s trip today also comes as Kyiv waits to hear how the new US

Millions of people face council tax hikes over normal thresholds after the government allowed six areas to boost rates above the usual 5%. More than two million people will be hit by increases of between 5 and 10%. Windsor and Maidenhead Council wanted to increase council tax by 25% but the plan was blocked –

The symbolism was plain to see. Five years on from Brexit, the British prime minister on Monday was brought back into the club for one night only, invited to an informal dinner with the EU’s 27 leaders to talk about resetting relations after a bumpy Brexit. The invite was sent out weeks ago, with the

The UK and the US have a “fair and balanced trading relationship”, Number 10 has said, after Donald Trump claimed the UK is “out of line”. The American president suggested he is ready to impose tariffs on both the UK and the EU after he announced 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, and

Sir Keir Starmer will urge European countries to commit more in defence spending as he heads to Brussels for security talks. The prime minister will call on Europe to “step up and shoulder more of the burden” to fend off the threat posed by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Sir Keir, the first prime minister to meet

The government has vowed to stop businesses recruiting foreign workers instead of training people already in the UK. Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper criticised the current “relaxed free market approach”, which she says has led net migration to quadruple over the past four years. “A big driver… has been

Chancellor Rachel Reeves this week confirmed government support for dozens of big projects to boost growth, on top of Labour’s existing promise to build 1.5 million new homes. Major planning system reforms are under way in a bid to meet targets, but among the challenges the government faces in delivery is who will build them.

Energy giant Shell is due to install a multi-billion pound gas platform in the North Sea this spring despite being blocked from drilling, Sky News understands. The Jackdaw field, which it is claimed could eventually power more than a million UK homes, has to get fresh approval from Downing Street to extract gas after a

Nigel Farage has compared Reform UK’s rise in the polls, with Donald Trump’s recent election victory in the US. At a rally held in Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s constituency, four of Reform’s five MPs gave speeches. During the North West Essex rally, Mr Farage told Reform members the Conservative Party “should be bloody scared of

Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband will find the government’s support for a third Heathrow runway “uncomfortable” but he won’t cause any “disruption”, Harriet Harman has said. The Labour peer told Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast Mr Miliband is a “green conscience” in the cabinet “but we’ve been here before”.

Former Labour prime ministers Gordon Brown and Sir Tony Blair have led tributes to “working class hero” Lord Prescott at his funeral. The great and the good of the Labour Party remembered the UK’s longest-serving deputy prime minister, who died in November aged 86 after a battle with Alzheimer’s. The funeral cortege included a Jaguar

Sir Keir Starmer has hailed John Prescott’s “fighting spirit” ahead of the former deputy prime minister’s funeral. Labour grandees, government ministers and MPs, prominent party supporters and trade union leaders are gathering today for the service in Hull Minister. Lord Prescott, who died on 20 November aged 86, was MP for Hull East for 40

Deregulation, streamlining planning decisions, and clamping down on judicial reviews – you might have found much of what Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday a bit dry and abstract. But keep reading, because it is also a very big deal, and years down the track will probably be looked back on – for good or for

The government supports a third runway at Heathrow, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced. The chancellor said there had been “no progress in 80 years” and that a third runway was “badly needed”. She said the airport “connects us to emerging markets all over the world” and its expansion would increase trade opportunities. Ms Reeves said

NHS and department of health officials show a “lack of ideas or drive” to transform the health service for patients, MPs have said. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has published a report into the future of the health service months after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer laid out plans for “three big shifts” in the

Sir Keir Starmer has warned the UK has a “cohort of loners who are extreme and need to be factored in” as a leaked Home Office review said the UK should deal with extremism by focusing on concerning behaviours and activity rather than ideologies. The prime minister said his government is “looking carefully where the

Ed Miliband has said the expansion of Heathrow and other airports “won’t go ahead” if they don’t meet the UK’s emissions targets – putting him on a potential collision course with Rachel Reeves. The chancellor has not commented directly on whether she would support a third runway at Heathrow, but she has indicated she would be prepared

The Scottish government is scrapping its plans to create a National Care Service. It is an embarrassing but perhaps predictable end to years of ambitious talk about finally coming up with a solution to the social care crisis. In a statement at Holyrood, the government tore up parts of the bill that would require major

Kemi Badenoch has defended blaming “peasants” from “sub-communities” in foreign countries for the grooming gangs crisis. Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, she insisted she would not be “shy” when talking about the scandal, which saw a string of child sexual exploitation convictions of men mostly from Pakistani backgrounds. Ms Badenoch told

The government has confirmed retailers selling knives online will require ID to purchase and also on delivery. After it emerged Southport killer Axel Rudakubana bought the knife he used to kill three young girls from Amazon when he was just 17 years old, the government has brought forward planned changes to online knife sales. A

Southport child killer Axel Rudakubana received the second-longest life sentence in English history and the government does not ever want to see him released, Downing Street has said. Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said ministers “share the public’s disgust at [Rudakubana’s] barbaric crimes” but said imposing a whole life order (WLO) was not possible because

The government has hinted it is open to joining a tariff-free trading scheme as part of its plan to “reset” its relationship with Europe. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds suggested that joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM) could be acceptable as it “is not a customs union”. Politics latest: Minister ‘hopes’ Southport killer dies in prison The

From shattering the record for most executive orders signed on a first day in office, a bishop imploring him to have mercy on immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, Melania’s hat and Mark Zuckerberg’s wandering eye – the first few days of Trump 2.0 has been not just the talk of the town in Washington DC, but in

The government should set time limits for public inquiries and “not let them go on for years and years”, Harriet Harman has said. The Labour peer told Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast it is “perfectly possible for them to get on and do their job quickly”. Speaking after Home Secretary

A record number of children are living in B&Bs beyond the legal limit as England’s homelessness crisis pushes councils to breaking point. MPs said there is a “dire need” for housing reform, with the lack of affordable homes forcing cash-strapped local authorities to haemorrhage their funds on temporary accommodation. The “crisis situation” means there is

Sir Keir Starmer is vowing to take on “the NIMBYs” by reducing legal challenges to infrastructure building – with a new approach stopping “newts and bats” from blocking construction. The Labour government has made growth one of its primary targets, with a key plank of this strategy to build new infrastructure like roads and power

People buying knives online will be asked for two types of identification as the government plans to prevent underage sales following the murder of three girls in Southport. Axel Rudakubana, who admitted this week to killing the young girls last summer, bought the knife he killed them with from Amazon when he was 17, despite

It presented Sir Keir Starmer with his first big challenge in office, and the Southport stabbings – followed by riots – look set to colour the early stages of his premiership. He dealt with the immediate aftermath by successfully mobilising the justice system and fast-tracking offenders through it – a throwback to his days as

Former home secretary Lord Blunkett has called for a cap on political donations made by companies and stricter rules on “where money originates”. The Labour stalwart – who is now a member of the House of Lords – told Sky News that he is not against firms or trade unions being able to give cash

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will travel to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week to court potential investors in UK growth projects, joining hundreds of political and economic leaders gathering in the Swiss Alps in the shadow of Donald Trump’s inauguration. Ms Reeves will join political leaders including German chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission

It was a small signifier – one which could be over-interpreted – but nevertheless provoked angst among some in government at a time when there isn’t universally huge confidence that UK-US political relations are as robust as they should be. On Sunday, the British Embassy in Washington had a bash for members of the incoming

There’s a deep, transatlantic contrast between the bombastic billionaire Donald Trump and the bespectacled human rights lawyer Sir Keir Starmer, on a political and a personal level. Despite the so-called “special relationship” it’s clearly going to be an uphill battle for the British PM to forge a productive relationship with the incoming president, but he

There are currently “no plans” for the UK to follow in America’s footsteps and ban TikTok, a cabinet minister said. Darren Jones said cats and dancing videos do not “seem like a national security threat”, but suggested the position could change if an issue emerges which the government is “concerned about”. The Chinese-opened app was