Politics

Jeremy Hunt will unveil his autumn statement on Thursday, where he will attempt to find up to £60bn from a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts to rebalance the books. Both the chancellor and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have warned that “difficult decisions” will need to be made in order to restore the UK’s

The Home Office has been told to “get a grip” over the issues at the Manston migrant processing centre – as a new report reveals detainees were not allowed to close toilet doors fully and had to sleep on the floor. Some migrants have not been allowed access to mobile phones to inform their families

Suella Braverman has admitted sending official documents from her government email to her personal email address on six separate occasions. In a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee, she apologised again for breaching security rules and set out her version of the events leading to her resignation under former prime minister Liz Truss. A

Amid the relative political calm that’s washed across Westminster in the last five days, one issue has stuck out like a sore thumb. The reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary, a week after she resigned over security breaches, has baffled and bemused Conservative MPs and officials. Given Rishi Sunak set great store by his

Michael Gove has defended cabinet colleague Suella Braverman’s controversial reappointment, describing her as a “first-rate, front-rank politician”. Ms Braverman was forced to resign from Liz Truss’s government after she sent an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP and copied in another MP by mistake. New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under

The government is facing calls to carry out an urgent investigation after reports emerged that a phone belonging to Liz Truss was hacked by Russia. The Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party have described the allegations as “extremely serious” and “concerning”. Agents suspected of working for Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly hacked the former prime

Parents who say they have been forced out of work by extortionate childcare costs have taken to the streets calling for government reform. Families including young children donned bandages, vampire costumes, and witches’ hats as they took part in the Halloween-themed March of the Mummies demonstrations around the UK. They are demanding reform of the

The UK is now spending more of its aid budget at home than in poorer countries, development experts have said. That is because a large proportion of the pot – some £3bn – is being spent on housing refugees, mainly from Ukraine, according to the Centre for Global Development (CGD). The UK aid budget is

The UK’s Northern Ireland secretary has said he “will be calling an election” in the nation after a deadline to restore devolved government at Stormont passed at midnight. Yesterday, last-ditch efforts to restore the multi-party executive failed and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris had been expected to subsequently call an election today and announce the

It’s Albert Einstein’s classic definition of insanity – “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” A second Northern Ireland Assembly election might produce a slightly different picture but the end result will be the same. Unless there’s a solution to the Brexit trading arrangement, there still won’t be a power-sharing government

Security services could be reluctant to share sensitive information with Suella Braverman after her controversial reappointment as home secretary, Lord Blunkett has warned. The Labour peer, himself a former home secretary, suggested “there could be two really unfortunate outcomes to the reappointment of the current home secretary” just six days after she was forced to

Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure over his reappointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary after a former party chair claimed she had committed “multiple breaches” of the ministerial code. Ms Braverman resigned her post just over a week ago after using her personal email address to forward sensitive government documents, breaking the rules ministers

Rishi Sunak is reinstating the ban on fracking that Liz Truss controversially lifted. During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, the new prime minister said he stands “by the manifesto” on fracking. The Conservative 2019 manifesto placed a moratorium on fracking in England following opposition from environmentalists and local communities. Mr Sunak‘s spokesman explicitly confirmed he

James Cleverly has defended the re-appointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary, saying she has “a very clear agenda” that the prime minister wants to see delivered. Ms Braverman resigned from the role seven days ago, having breached the ministerial code by sending secure information from her private email, and left with scathing remarks about

Rishi Sunak is appointing his cabinet after being asked by the King to form a new government. The new prime minister has promised to form a government of “all the talents” amid calls from senior Tories to appoint the best ministers available – rather than focusing on those who are loyal to him, as his

Today, the UK will get its third prime minister this year. We’ll have continuous coverage of the day’s events on Sky News. Here are the key timings this morning as Rishi Sunak replaces Liz Truss in Number 10. At the start of the day, Ms Truss will hold her last cabinet meeting at 9am. Rishi

After a swift leadership race, Rishi Sunak has won the contest to take over the Tory Party and become the next prime minister of the UK. And it could be the right decision for the Conservative Party, if the most recent YouGov poll is to be believed. Released just this morning it says voters familiar

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have reportedly held talks late into the night – fuelling speculation they could strike a deal. Neither the former prime minister nor the ex-chancellor have officially declared themselves in the race to succeed Liz Truss as prime minister. Race to be PM heats up – follow the latest updates To

For a man who was, until recently, thousands of miles away on a Caribbean island (and has yet to put his hat in the ring) it is extraordinary that Boris Johnson’s name has dominated this leadership race. Such is the strength of feeling around the former PM: love him or loathe him, we can’t stop

Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has said he is backing Boris Johnson to return as prime minister despite having previously called for him to resign in the summer. “I’m backing Boris. He got the big calls right, whether it was ordering more vaccines ahead of more waves of Covid, arming Ukraine early against the advice of