Politics

The government has been accused of “ignoring” the voices of people who lost family in the Grenfell Tower tragedy in its decision to demolish the building. Grenfell United, which represents some bereaved and survivors, criticised the government’s conduct as “disgraceful and unforgiveable”. The news was announced in a meeting attended by deputy prime minister Angela

The Conservative Party is pledging to tighten immigration rules after Reform topped a landmark poll for the first time earlier this week. In her first major policy announcement as Tory Party leader, Kemi Badenoch is pledging to double the amount of time an immigrant needs to have been in the UK before claiming indefinite leave

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana’s anti-terror case should have been kept open, a review into his attacks has found. Following the killings in Southport last summer, a rapid review was launched into Rudakubana’s contact with Prevent – a government strategy aimed at stopping people from becoming terrorists. Speaking in the House of Commons, Home Office minister

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

Britain could do a slimmed down trade deal with the United States within months, the last politician to oversee negotiations with Donald Trump’s administration over a UK-US agreement has told Sky News. Last night Sky News revealed that leading members of the Trump administration believe a trade deal with the UK could be sealed in

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

Reform have topped a Sky News/YouGov poll for the first time as the party continues to shake up British politics. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has edged in front on 25%, with Labour pushed into second on 24% and the Tories on 21%. The YouGov poll, taken on Sunday and Monday, also puts the Lib Dems

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

AstraZeneca has cancelled plans for a £450m vaccine manufacturing plant in Liverpool, blaming a cut in funding from government. The investment, announced last year in the Tories’ spring budget, was dependent on a “mutual agreement” with the Treasury and third parties, it was said at the time. It will no longer go ahead because Labour

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