Politics

The health secretary claims the disparate level of emergency cover during recent ambulance strikes could not be “relied upon to ensure patient and public safety”. In a letter to the GMB union sent ahead of further strikes this month, and seen by Sky News, Steve Barclay accepted all areas that staged walkouts ensured the most

Rishi Sunak plans to give wider powers to the police to tackle “highly disruptive and dangerous protests”. In an announcement on Monday, the prime minister will pledge to amend the already controversial Public Order Bill to “broaden the legal definition of serious disruption”. A government statement said it would give officers “greater flexibility and clarity

More nurses strikes that would see twice as many workers take action will be announced for February if talks with the government do not progress soon, union bosses have warned. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union said that new walkouts would be announced should negotiations over pay remain stalled by the end of January.

Rishi Sunak is preparing to block laws in Scotland that make it easier for people to change gender, Sky News understands. The move would be an unprecedented intervention in 25 years of devolution and is likely to spark a new constitutional row with Holyrood. The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill was passed by a majority

Ambulance workers have written to Rishi Sunak accusing his government of “demonising” them in order to justify new anti-strike legislation. The letter from paramedics and other members of the GMB union said they were “appalled” at some of the statements from ministers in recent days and that “targeting ambulance workers for a deliberate attack is

Rishi Sunak has said Boris Johnson intends to stand in his current Uxbridge seat at the next general election – after allies suggested the pair could strike a deal to avoid a leadership challenge. Yesterday, Sky News reported that close allies of former PM Mr Johnson had claimed he could agree not to challenge Mr

A meeting between civil servants’ unions and the government was a “complete farce” so they will go ahead with their strike, union leaders said. On Wednesday, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced its 100,000 members, from 124 government departments, will strike on 1 February over pay, jobs and conditions. It will be the

Boris Johnson has become the number one most donated to MP this parliament after receiving a single donation of one million pounds. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had previously been the most donated to MP with £740,000 in multiple donations, Sky News’ Westminster Accounts tool showed. But the money from Brexiteer and crypto investor Christopher

The “scandal” of MPs’ earnings from second jobs and donations exposed by Sky News’ Westminster Accounts project “needs to end” through “root-and-branch” reform, the SNP has said. The party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn told Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates that the findings of the investigation should “ring alarm bells for everyone” and demonstrate

Andrew Bridgen has become the latest MP in the Commons to lose the whip after he compared the roll-out of COVID vaccines to the Holocaust. But what does it mean to “lose the whip” when you are a politician? And who else has faced the same fate in this Parliament? What does it mean? Losing

All-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) have received over £20m worth of funding from external organisations since the 2019 general election, with registered lobbying agencies dominating the ranks of biggest benefactors. Companies are required by law to sign the consultant lobbyist register if they engage in direct communications with ministers in relation to government policy or legislation

Angela Rayner has defended compromising within Labour’s top team, saying she will not let her principles “block” her party from getting into government. Speaking to the Beth Rigby Interviews programme, the deputy leader – known for being on the left of the party – said it was “not about getting rid of my principles”. But,

Sir Keir Starmer and Labour have accepted hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from a wealthy climate activist who has also been funnelling money to Just Stop Oil – a group condemned by the party. Ecotricity, a company founded by Dale Vince, gave more than £20,000 to Sir Keir Starmer during Labour’s 2020 leadership

The health secretary has announced the government will block-book beds in residential homes so around 2,500 people can be released from hospitals when they are medically fit to be discharged. Steve Barclay gave a statement to the Commons outlining the government’s plans to help ease the “severe pressures” on the NHS – hours after his

On a freezing, foggy evening in December, the House of Commons finally formally responded to the last major financial sleaze scandal to hit parliament, and in doing so, sent an important signal about the way politicians look after themselves. After more than a year of deliberation, the debate and vote late in the evening of

The prime minister has urged health leaders at an emergency meeting to take “bold and radical” action to alleviate the winter crisis in the NHS. Rishi Sunak warned them during Downing Street talks on Saturday, that a “business-as-usual mindset won’t fix the challenges we face”. His plea came as ministers, health leaders and clinical experts

The chair of the Public Accounts Committee has told Sky News she “could weep for the five years” lost by the decision to abolish the organisation set up to managed the long-term renovation of parliament. Dame Meg Hillier MP says there is an “unacceptable cloak of secrecy” around the restoration programme which she says was

Ministers, health leaders and clinical experts will meet in Downing Street today in an attempt to solve the short and long-term issues facing the health service. Rishi Sunak will host the NHS recovery forum in Number 10 as the winter crisis rolls on, with discussions focusing on social care and delayed discharge, urgent and emergency

Nurses have said they will call off strike action later this month if the government discusses pay for this year – but ministers are standing by their refusal not to. Rishi Sunak dodged answering whether talks the government has invited all unions to next week will include discussions about pay for the 2022-23 financial year

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) could accept a pay rise of around 10% to end its ongoing dispute with the government, its chief has said. The union had initially demanded an increase of up to 19% to cover soaring inflation and falls in real term wages over the past decade. But union boss Pat

When the Labour leader was up against the flamboyant Boris Johnson, Sir Keir Starmer, at times, struggled to have impact. But the fall of Mr Johnson, the ensuing Tory chaos, and Labour’s 20-point lead in the polls, has changed the race and seems to have given Mr Starmer a new gear. His New Year’s speech

Sir Keir Starmer will promise to end “sticking plaster politics” when he delivers his first speech of the new year later today. The Labour leader will claim that “a short-term mindset” dominates Westminster under the Conservatives, pointing in particular to its handling of the crisis in the NHS. He will promise “a completely new way

Rishi Sunak has pledged to boost the economy, cut hospital waiting lists and stop migrant crossings in the Channel in his first speech of the year. Speaking in Stratford, the PM laid out his priorities for 2023 and asked the public to judge his premiership on five promises. These pledges are: • to halve inflation

The health secretary has blamed high cases of flu, COVID and fears about Strep A for the “massive pressure” the NHS faced over the festive period. Several trusts have announced critical incidents in recent days, and ambulances have waited hours outside hospitals to transfer their patients, as the government faces growing questions over what it

The government is doing “everything possible” to increase the number of hospital beds available, Downing Street has said, as winter pressures continue to bite. Concerns are mounting about the current state of public healthcare, with well over a dozen NHS trusts and ambulance services having declared critical incidents over the festive period. The British Medical

UK Border Force officers have joined patrols on French beaches for the first time in a bid to stem the flow of migrants crossing the Channel. The first joint patrols are believed to have taken place just before Christmas after months of negotiations between UK and French officials. The collaboration aims to give UK officers

The Archbishop of Canterbury has kicked off 2023 by putting the Church of England on a collision course with Rishi Sunak’s government. Justin Welby is a canny political operator who is almost certainly the most political archbishop of Canterbury in recent years. And there have been a few of those. During 2022 he led an

The major events which come define a year, or even a decade, are seldom predicted. Nobody foresaw the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001 which then swamped the leaderships of Tony Blair and George W Bush. This time a year ago most experts doubted that Russia would go ahead with the vicious attack on

Ian Blackford watched the election of his successor Stephen Flynn via zoom, surrounded by his closest allies. And by boxes. His imminent forced departure from the two-floor, wood-panelled suite of offices afforded to the leader of parliament’s third party, was a source of sadness and frustration. Nicola Sturgeon had made her own unhappiness clear to

Rishi Sunak has warned the UK’s problems will not “go away” in 2023 after a “tough” 12 months in his New Year message. The prime minister promised the “very best of Britain” will be on display in the coming months as he pledged continuing support for Ukraine. And he also predicted King Charles’s coronation on

Tory and Labour MPs who caused trouble for Boris Johnson have been recognised in the first New Year Honours list to be published since he left No 10. Conservative Julian Lewis, chairman of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC), and Labour MP Chris Bryant, who chairs the commons standards committee, have both received knighthoods.

Nearly 2,000 offenders have been made to wear tags that detect if they have drunk alcohol this Christmas. New statistics have revealed about 1,800 offenders have been made to wear sobriety tags over the Christmas and New Year period to tackle alcohol-related crime. The tags, introduced in 2020, monitor the alcohol content in an individual’s

Tony Blair wanted Vladimir Putin to have a seat at the international “top table” during his time as prime minister, according to newly released official files. The Labour PM from 1997 to 2007 believed the Russian president was at heart a “Russian patriot” and it was important to encourage him to adopt Western values, the