Politics

Nigel Farage, the former UKIP leader, is to start banking with Britain’s biggest high street lender, months after a row over the closure of his previous accounts resulted in the ousting of one of the industry’s top executives. Sky News can reveal that Mr Farage has opened a number of accounts at Lloyds Banking Group,

The UK will send RAF aircraft and Royal Navy ships to carry out surveillance over Israel in a show of support following the Hamas incursion over the weekend. RAF aircraft will begin patrols in the next 24 hours while two ships will be sent to the eastern Mediterranean. A Royal Navy task group will be

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s recent delay to key climate targets will actually cost households more, rather than saving them money as he claimed, his own climate advisers have concluded. In September, Mr Sunak pushed back the end of new petrol and diesel car sales from 2030 to 2035, and scrapped a plan to make landlords

Convicted criminals could avoid jail from next week because prisons are full, according to reports. The Times reported that Lord Edis, the senior presiding judge for England and Wales, has said that from next week the sentencing of criminals who are on bail should be delayed. Some prisoners may also be released early under proposals

Sir Keir Starmer called the protester who threw glitter over him during a speech an “idiot” but admitted the security breach “could have been a lot worse”. The Labour leader said a lot of people have asked him what was going through his mind when the man stormed the stage ahead of his keynote address

Sir Keir Starmer has pledged a “Britain built to last” with a new generation of towns in a major pitch to the nation about why he should be the next prime minister. Delivering a keynote speech at the annual party conference in Liverpool, the Labour leader promised to build 1.5 million homes by reforming the

Sir Keir Starmer will promise the country a “decade of national renewal” if Labour gets into power at the next general election. Speaking at his party’s annual conference on Tuesday, the Labour leader will make pledges on housing, policing and devolution as he sets his sights on at least two terms in office to rescue

A Jewish former Labour MP, who quit the party in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, has urged people to watch videos of the “horrific and brutal” treatment of Israelis at the hands of Hamas. Luciana Berger – who left Labour amid the antisemitism row within the party, but re-joined earlier this year – told Sky

Asylum seekers who were evacuated from the Bibby Stockholm have been told they will return to the barge next week. A total of 39 migrants were moved into the floating accommodation in August as part of a government plan to cut down the number being housed in hotels. But within days, the group of men

Two of Westminster’s best-connected journalists – Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard – provide the essential guide to politics in the week ahead. They look to what’s in store at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool – including how Sir Keir Starmer will lay out his priorities ahead of a general election –

Labour has been warned against being “too timid” and “limping into Number 10” by the head of its biggest donor on the eve of the party’s conference in Liverpool. Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said she wanted the party to resemble the reforming Labour government of 1945 led by Clement Attlee in the

When Labour last met in Liverpool for its annual conference, Liz Truss had just delivered her mini-Budget, sterling had fallen to a 37-year low and the markets were about to be plunged into turmoil. With her government imploding and weeks after the Johnson collapse, Labour were on a high. Sir Keir Starmer had clocked up

Labour are promising to “get Britain’s future back” as the party meets for its annual conference. Proceedings will kick off on Saturday with Labour Party‘s women’s conference, before the full summit kicks off on Sunday. It follows the Conservative Party conference last week, which was beset by leaks about the scrapping of HS2 – as

This Labour Party conference will feel different. Unlike the Conservatives, they don’t need a big comeback moment to save them from dire polling, nor are there peacocking leadership hopefuls waiting in the wings (or at least, there is no looming vacancy). Instead, particularly after the massive win in the Rutherglen by-election, this is a party

Scottish Labour has won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election. Michael Shanks replaces shamed MP Margaret Ferrier, who was ousted from her seat in August following a successful recall petition for breaching COVID restrictions during lockdown in 2020. Voters took to the polls between 7am and 10pm on Thursday and out of the 82,104 electorate,

Voting has closed and counting is now under way to replace shamed MP Margaret Ferrier. Ms Ferrier was ousted from her Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat in August following a successful recall petition for breaching COVID restrictions in 2020. Voters took to the polls between 7am and 10pm on Thursday for the by-election, with Ms

Rishi Sunak has been reported to Police Scotland over comments he made about Nicola Sturgeon in his Tory Party conference speech. Chris McEleny, the general secretary of Alba Party, told Sky News he had filed a complaint and asked for an investigation into whether Mr Sunak may have committed contempt of court by mentioning Scotland’s

There are fresh calls to clean up politics with stronger rules around lying after senior Tories made false statements around meat taxes and 15-minute cities at their annual party conference. Green MP Caroline Lucas told Sky News a “dishonesty epidemic is infecting the Tory party” as she called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to acquaint

There is a story at the Conservative Party in Manchester so much bigger than the spectacle of a prime minister trying in vain not to talk about HS2 before his big speech. It raises existential questions about what the next iteration of the Conservative Party stands for. And all week it has been happening in

Rishi Sunak will announce around £30bn of spending on road, rail and buses in his conference speech. The big spending commitment will come to sweeten the pill that the second leg of HS2, linking Birmingham and Manchester, won’t be fulfilled. Speculation about what will or won’t happen to High-Speed Rail has been raging for weeks

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has continued to dodge questions on the future of HS2, despite the issue dominating his party’s conference in Manchester. Sky News reported on Monday that the northern leg of the high speed rail line between Birmingham and Manchester will be axed after weeks of speculation. The confirmation led to even more

The northern leg of the HS2 line is set to be scrapped, Sky News understands. Rumours had been circling for weeks that the high-speed rail line between Birmingham and Manchester was going to be axed by the prime minister and chancellor due to soaring costs. Even the reports – which have been denied by Number

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has refused to commit to tax cuts ahead of the next election, despite growing calls from inside his party. His cabinet colleague Michael Gove told Sky News on Sunday that he wanted to see “the tax burden reduced” by the time the public goes to the polls. But speaking to Kay Burley

Liz Truss is to remake her case for the direction she believes the Conservative Party should take – a year after her administration began to collapse around her. The UK’s shortest ever serving prime minister will speak at a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Tuesday. A year ago, under her

Top Tories are setting out their policies as the Conservative Party conference kicks off in Manchester – with levelling up, immigration, Ukraine and the next general election on the agenda. Rishi Sunak has announced that more than 50 “overlooked” British towns will be given £20m each over the next 10 years to regenerate high streets,

Grassroots Conservative supporters are saying they want to oust Rishi Sunak and “go to war” with the liberal wing of the party in leaked WhatsApp messages obtained by Sky News. We have obtained the discussions amongst members of the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), founded in December 2022 by donor and Johnson-backer Lord Peter Cruddas after

As Rishi Sunak prepares to launch his re-election pitch from the stage in Manchester this week, it’s worth remembering that this time last year, the now prime minister – and many of his supporters – were put out to pasture and didn’t even bother to turn up for the annual Tory jamboree. Those who did

Rishi Sunak is considering removing the winter fuel allowance from all but the poorest pensioners as a way of clawing back some taxpayer funds from the elderly as he prepares to fight the next election on a pledge to keep the pension triple lock despite its spiralling costs. Government figures told Sky News the prime

Rishi Sunak is set to block councils from introducing new 20mph speed limits, according to reports. The move is among a package of measures the prime minister is due to announce at the Conservative Party’s annual conference that gets under way in Manchester this weekend. The so-called “plan for motorists” comes in the wake of

Rishi Sunak dodged questions over the future of HS2 as he spoke to local radio stations across the country. The prime minister was repeatedly asked about the northern leg of the high speed rail line between Birmingham and Manchester. He was also quizzed on whether the route would now end in the west London suburb

Labour has U-turned on its plans to remove the charitable status of private schools. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in 2021 that her party was ideologically opposed to fee-charging schools avoiding tax by operating as charities. However, it has now emerged that, while Labour still plans to force independent schools to pay VAT, it will

“Many people” pretend to be gay to claim asylum in the UK, Suella Braverman has claimed, as she defended herself from criticism from Sir Elton John. The home secretary yesterday delivered a controversial speech in which she claimed the asylum system will break if people are given sanctuary for “simply being gay, or a woman,

A cabinet minister has refused to commit to the UK staying as a signatory to the United Nations human rights convention following a controversial speech in the US by Suella Braverman on migration. The home secretary has faced severe criticism over her comments in Washington DC on Tuesday, where she said being gay or a