UK

China has recruited dozens of former British military pilots to teach the Chinese armed forces how to defeat western warplanes and helicopters in a “threat to UK interests”, officials have revealed. One official said some 30 mainly ex-fast jet but also some helicopter pilots – lured by annual salaries of around £240,000 – are currently

Jeremy Hunt has revealed he is reversing “almost all” of the tax cuts announced in his predecessor’s mini-budget and is scaling back support for energy bills. In an emergency statement, the chancellor said a 1p cut to income tax will be delayed “indefinitely” until the UK’s finances improve instead of being introduced in April 2023

Labour has called for Liz Truss to face parliament today after three Tory MPs broke ranks to demand that she quits. The prime minister is facing calls to resign from within her own party just six weeks after entering Number 10, following the economic turmoil in the wake of the mini-budget. Tory MPs Crispin Blunt,

Just Stop Oil protesters have blocked London’s Park Lane and spray painted the front of a luxury car showroom. Demonstrators from the environmental group, who are calling for the government to halt all new oil and gas licences, glued themselves to the road in central London at around 11am on Sunday. One was then filmed

Jeremy Hunt has admitted the government went “too far, too fast” and that he will have to take some “very difficult decisions” on spending and tax to get the economy back up and running. Earlier, the new chancellor admitted there “were mistakes” in Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget in an interview with Sky News.

The new chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said there “were mistakes” in Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget. Speaking to Sky News on Saturday, Mr Hunt said: “It was a mistake when we were going to be asking for difficult decisions across the board on tax and spending to cut the rate of tax paid by

Liz Truss has said “I want to be honest, this is difficult” after sacking her chancellor and reversing key policies of her government’s growth plan. In a news conference shortly after dismissing Kwasi Kwarteng, Ms Truss said: “The way we deliver our mission has to change.” But she said the “mission remains” to deliver a

Kwasi Kwarteng will return to the UK from Washington earlier than planned, as another major mini-budget U-turn is expected. The chancellor was due to brief journalists on Friday morning after attending the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting in Washington, but held the briefing on Thursday night before announcing he will fly home. On his return,

Kwasi Kwarteng has been sacked as chancellor three weeks after his mini-budget unleashed chaos in the economy. He was appointed to the role by Liz Truss only 38 days ago, making him the second-shortest serving chancellor after Iain Macleod, who died a month after being handed the job by Edward Heath. Mr Kwarteng’s downfall was

A neonatal nurse accused of murdering seven babies allegedly left a handwritten note confessing to her crimes that read “I AM EVIL I DID THIS”. Lucy Letby, 32, is alleged to have gone on a year-long killing spree while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital. She is also accused of the attempted murder of

A neonatal nurse killed two out of three triplet boys and smiled after killing another premature baby girl on the fourth attempt, a court has heard. Lucy Letby is charged with 22 counts of murder and attempted murder, involving 17 babies, and is alleged to have gone on a year-long killing spree at the Countess

The Bank of England has confirmed its emergency bond-buying programme will end on Friday as planned after reports suggested it might extend the support for pension funds. On Wednesday morning, it said all temporary and targeted purchases of UK government bonds, known as gilts, will end. This has been the position throughout and has been

The coronation of King Charles III will take place next year on Saturday 6 May, Buckingham Palace has confirmed. The religious ceremony will be held at London’s Westminster Abbey, and conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. The King will be crowned alongside his wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort. It is thought the coronation

A hospital nurse murdered a five-day-old baby by injecting air into his stomach through a nose tube, a court has heard. Lucy Letby allegedly killed the baby boy, child C, just six days after murdering for the first time, when she killed another baby boy, child A, and days later attacked child B, while working

A hospital nurse accused of the murder of seven babies – and attempted murder of 10 more – was a “poisoner at work”, a jury has heard. Lucy Letby, who had specialist training in care for the sickest babies at the neonatal unit in the Countess of Chester, is alleged to have gone on a

The mother of murdered student Libby Squire has revealed that the “sexual predator” who raped and killed the 21-year-old has agreed to meet her.  Lisa Squire told Sky News she is determined to find out what exactly happened to her daughter after she was abducted by Pawel Relowicz – and hopes to get answers by

Liz Truss is expected to make a decision on whether to uprate benefits in line with inflation in November, a department for work and pensions minister has said. Victoria Prentis told Sky News that “no decision has been taken about the uprating of benefits” but that she is sure that the government will “make that

Power blackouts this winter are “extremely unlikely” this winter, Cabinet Office Minister Nadhim Zahawi has told Sky News. The Tory frontbencher also insisted there was no need for the government to spend £14m on an energy-saving public information campaign, given the advice already available. Mr Zahawi’s comments come amid concerns of power cuts with the

A woman who died in a hit-and-run outside a takeaway has been named as Rebecca Steer – after a man was arrested on suspicion of murder. Ms Steer, 22, and another pedestrian were struck by a car which mounted a kerb outside the Grill Out restaurant in Oswestry, Shropshire, at around 2.50am on Sunday, police

Serial killer Peter Tobin has died after falling ill in prison where he was serving three life sentences. He was taken from HMP Edinburgh to hospital, thought to be the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, on Wednesday and subsequently died, sources said. He was serving a life sentence for raping and murdering Polish student Angelika Kluk,

Rail passengers are in for more travel chaos as only around one in five trains are set to run today due to another strike. More than 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at Network Rail and 15 train operating companies are staging a walkout over jobs, pay and conditions. Around half

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with murder following the fatal stabbing of another boy the same age in Gateshead. Northumbria Police confirmed the youth has also been charged with attempted wounding with intent and having a bladed article in a public place. The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons because of his

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe says “the world cannot turn a blind eye to Iran” and the UK government “must act” over human rights abuses, as women and girls take to the country’s streets in protest. The widespread action was sparked after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month while she was in the custody of the

The UK’s biggest mortgage lenders will urge the chancellor to extend a government home loans initiative which helps first-time buyers get onto the property ladder. Sky News understands that executives from major banks and Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, will ask Kwasi Kwarteng to commit to renewing the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which is scheduled to

The country has been put on notice that the chances of gas shortages this winter have risen markedly, prompting a contingency plan to prioritise heating. National Grid’s Electricity System Operator (ESO) warned that planned three-hour power blackouts could be imposed in some areas, in the “unlikely” event supplies of gas fall short of demand. It

Three British rockets streaked into the sky towards Russian forces under attack in a key frontline town in eastern Ukraine. The target was a mobile Russian command post. A Ukrainian artillery officer said it would have been hit because his soldiers never miss. Sky News is the first to be granted permission to film a

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has urged his ministerial colleagues to keep their views on government policy “around the cabinet table” as Liz Truss faces an open split within her top team over the 45p tax rate U-turn. The senior cabinet member warned his peers that it is “always better to feed straight into the boss”

Liz Truss will wrap up the Conservative Party conference by defending her approach and pledging a “new Britain for the new era” – after a week of U-turns and infighting. In her first conference speech as prime minister, Ms Truss will on Wednesday reiterate Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s plan to boost growth. And just a day

Liz Truss has refused to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation, despite growing pressure from a cabinet minister and senior Tory MPs. Speaking to broadcasters in Birmingham, where the Tory party conference is underway, the prime minister said she had “not made a decision” on whether to stick to the benefit uprate promised

The chancellor has admitted it has been a tough day after he was forced to U-turn on cutting income tax for the rich. Kwasi Kwarteng began his keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference by saying: “What a day, it has been tough but we need to focus on the job in hand.” Just hours

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has confirmed that the government is axing plans to give the wealthiest 1% a tax cut following a bitter backlash from Tory MPs. Mr Kwarteng said in a tweet that the measure had become a “distraction” from his objective to grow the economy. He said: “We get it, we have listened.” Politics

Liz Truss is to delay the vote on cutting the 45p rate of tax for higher earners, a cabinet minister has told Sky News. The policy was announced in last Friday’s mini-budget, but would have to go to a vote of MPs before it could be approved. On Sunday, the party said any Tory MP

Liz Truss has admitted that she “should have laid the ground better” for the government’s tax-cutting mini-budget after the pound slumped to a record low. The prime minister said she has “learnt from that” and “will make sure in future we will do a better job of laying the ground”. Ms Truss also doubled down