Politics

Two more Conservative MPs have announced that they will not be standing at the next general election. Dehenna Davison, 29, a levelling up minister, is viewed as one of the rising stars in the Tory party, so the news of her intention to step aside will come as a surprise. “For my whole adult life,

Dominic Raab has insisted he has “behaved professionally at all times” despite facing growing allegations of bullying and intimidating behaviour. Yesterday, a number of the deputy PM’s former private secretaries told the BBC they were preparing to submit formal complaints about his behaviour. Newsnight was also told that Mr Raab used his personal email account

Jeremy Hunt has said he regrets the turbulence caused by Liz Truss’s mini-budget but he does not believe it inflicted long-term economic damage. The independent Resolution Foundation estimated the mistakes made by the former prime minister cost the UK £30bn while Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, called it one of

The government is “simply not in a position to pay inflation pay rises”, the transport secretary has told Sky News before a meeting with the boss of the sector’s biggest union tomorrow. Mark Harper told The Take with Sophy Ridge that he understands why “people facing these cost-of-living pressures want more pay”, but said if

This is a major blow for Nicola Sturgeon’s ambition to hold a second independence vote next October. It almost certainly rules out that plan.  But it’s not entirely surprising as the first minister’s own top law officer wasn’t fully convinced of the legal basis for Holyrood legislating for a referendum against Westminster’s approval. That is

The intense discussion over Scotland’s future is reaching another, major milestone. Politicians on both sides of Scotland’s independence debate are waiting with bated breath for the judgment from the Supreme Court on whether the Scottish parliament has the power to legislate for a second referendum without the approval of Westminster. Follow updates in the Politics

There are now no people at the Manston migrant processing centre after it experienced severe overcrowding earlier this month. The Home Office site in Kent, where thousands of migrants who have arrived in small boats have been taken since it opened in February, currently has zero people in it. In recent weeks Manston, a former

MPs can put the cost of food and drink at their staff Christmas parties on expenses for the first time. It means taxpayers will pay for the festivities – but alcohol cannot be included in the “hospitality” claim, according to guidance from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. The advice from the expenses watchdog came in

Rishi Sunak has reiterated his commitment to Brexit amid reports the government could be seeking a closer “Swiss-style” deal with the EU. Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual conference, the prime minister said he was “unequivocal” that he would not return to any alignment with EU laws. “I voted for Brexit, I

The UK government will introduce new legislation today to extend the deadline for forming an executive in Northern Ireland. There has been no functioning government in Stormont since May’s vote, with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refusing to restore power-sharing unless the Northern Ireland protocol is scrapped. The post-Brexit trade agreement was designed to prevent

Labour wants to replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber if it gets into power as part of a plan to “restore trust in politics”. The party will hold a consultation on the make-up of the new look Lords, including on how to make sure “regional voices” are included. But it has said

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will accuse Iran of spreading “bloodshed and destruction” around the world as he reaffirms Britain’s determination to prevent it acquiring a nuclear weapon. Addressing an international security conference in Bahrain on Saturday, Mr Cleverly will warn that Iranian-supplied weapons are threatening security in the Middle East and beyond. He will point

Rishi Sunak is to axe the daily appearance of ministers on morning breakfast shows, it is understood. Instead of being grilled on the airwaves every day, the government will now only provide a minister to be interviewed around three mornings a week. The move was first reported by the Daily Mirror, which said the appearances

The UK’s science and technology sector survived a much feared spending cut in this week’s budget – but those in the field say the government will need to do more to realise the UK’s potential as a “science superpower.” The expectation was that this was going to be a budget of cuts, with the government’s

Let’s start with a tale of two charts. Or rather, one chart. Be warned: it’s not a pretty chart. It shows how average household disposable income changed each year since 1955 and for the most part it’s a story of progress. As the years have gone on, we have seen our disposable incomes rise in

The UK’s economic outlook will be “challenging” for the next two years, Jeremy Hunt says. The chancellor presented his autumn statement to parliament on Thursday, littered with stealth taxes and curbs on government spending amounting to £55bn in an attempt to plug the black hole in the public finances. But the independent Office for Budget

Millions more Britons will pay more tax as Jeremy Hunt cut the top-rate threshold and announced freezes on several other taxes in his autumn statement. The total amount of savings from the autumn statement has been costed at £55bn, through tax rises and cutting government spending. However, in real-term costs, UK households’ disposable incomes will

Corporate executives call it “kitchen sinking”. The minute you get into a new job you collect all the bad news, announce the miserable stuff at the same time and take the grisliest, most painful decisions all at once. You throw the kitchen sink at it. You’ll have spotted this strategy before, and not just in

Dominic Raab has denied bullying claims and he requested an investigation into himself following two formal complaints made against him after days of allegations. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, where he was standing in for Rishi Sunak who is at the G20 in Bali, Mr Raab said he is “confident that I have behaved professionally

His Majesty’s Treasury has opened a Discord account on the instant messaging platform and been subjected to a tidal wave of abuse. The government department’s official Twitter account posted a link to its server on the chat app on Tuesday, though it has apparently been active since 14 October. Discord allows users to communicate with

Rishi Sunak has refused to apologise for the economic turmoil Liz Truss’s short-lived government caused the British people. The prime minister, who is in Bali for the G20 summit, refused six times today to say sorry for the decisions his predecessor made, which caused severe and continuing financial turbulence. He acknowledged that “mistakes were made”

Rishi Sunak landed in Bali on Monday evening with a clear message to viewers back home: the problems besetting the UK economy are shared with other industrialised nations around the world. And there are two very good reasons why he has chosen to frame the G20 summit in Indonesia in this way. Firstly, it’s an

Rishi Sunak has avoided sticking to his predecessor’s pledge to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP ahead of the autumn budget, set to be unveiled on Thursday. During her campaign for Number 10, Liz Truss said the figure would be reached by the end of the decade. But asked if he would standby her

Rishi Sunak will set out a five-point economic action plan to address global instability and the rising cost of living at this week’s G20 summit – where he will face Russia’s foreign minister and call out Vladimir Putin’s regime. The prime minister is travelling to Bali for talks with leaders of the world’s biggest economies

The last time a chancellor of the exchequer appeared on the Sunday morning political shows he helped kick the economy off a cliff-edge. Seven long weeks ago, Kwasi Kwarteng was still revelling in the aftermath of his not-so-mini budget and its promise of unfunded tax cuts, so much so he promised more to come. It

Rishi Sunak has pledged to “call out Putin’s regime” at this year’s G20 summit over the devastating turmoil inflicted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The prime minister will jet to Indonesia on Sunday ahead of talks with world leaders including US President Joe Biden, French premier Emmanuel Macron and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. But Russian

Matt Hancock has been told by an I’m a Celebrity campmate that “sorry… doesn’t really cut it” over his rule-breaking during COVID. The former health secretary resigned from his post in June 2021 after pictures were leaked of him having an affair with his former aide in his office, breaking guidance about mixing with other

Dominic Raab “values” civil servants in his department, the Ministry of Justice has insisted, after bullying claims have emerged against him. Mr Raab was reappointed as justice secretary and deputy prime minister by Rishi Sunak last month, having held the roles between September 2021 and September 2022 under Boris Johnson, but having been sacked by

Nigel Lawson, chancellor to Margaret Thatcher, has died at the age of 91. He leaves behind five of his six children, including TV chef Nigella Lawson and journalist Dominic Lawson. One of his daughters, Thomasina, died aged 32. Born in Hampstead, northwest London, on 11 March 1932, the son of the owner of a tea-trading

There is now a “window of opportunity” to fix the issues around the Northern Ireland protocol, says the Irish prime minister. Speaking after the British-Irish Council summit in Blackpool, Michael Martin said relations between the UK and EU had “improved very significantly”, and both he and British PM Rishi Sunak wanted to resolve the problems

Kwasi Kwarteng claims he told Liz Truss to “slow down” after the market crashing mini-budget was announced. The ex-chancellor, who was sacked by the then-prime minister, told TalkTV’s First Edition programme: “She said, ‘Well, I’ve only got two years’ and I said, ‘You will have two months if you carry on like this’.” Mr Kwarteng

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said he “could not speak or sleep” when he found out his wife had breast cancer. Susie Cleverly, 49, was diagnosed with triple positive breast cancer in December 2021 after spotting dimpled skin underneath her right breast the month before – nearly a year ago to the day. At the

Is Rishi Sunak’s baptism of fire as prime minister evidence that politicians who’ve been Leader of the Opposition make the best PMs? Some MPs claim Mr Sunak’s early blunders – the disastrous appointment of Sir Gavin Williamson to the cabinet table and his COP27 U-turn, for example – reveal not only a lack of experience