UK

A fall in December’s CPI inflation of 0.1 percentage points to 2.5% is marginal, but by being below expectations it delivered an above-expectations boost to Rachel Reeves. The chancellor has been under intense scrutiny for the last week as UK borrowing costs have risen (in line with US and European peers) and the value of

Tulip Siddiq has resigned as a Treasury minister after controversy over links to her aunt’s ousted political movement in Bangladesh. In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, the Hampstead and Highgate MP said while she had “not breached the ministerial code”, continuing in her post would be “a distraction from the work of the government”.

The use of drones to fly drugs and weapons into UK prisons needs to be tackled “urgently” because it has become a threat to “national security”, the chief inspector of prisons has said. Charlie Taylor added that police and the prison service had in effect “ceded the airspace” around HMP Manchester and HMP Long Lartin

Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced she has split from her husband, Peter Murrell. Ms Sturgeon and Ms Murrell met via the SNP and first became a couple in 2003. They later married in July 2010 at Oran Mor in Glasgow. In a statement posted to Instagram stories, she wrote: “With a heavy

A woman has suffered life-changing injuries after she was stabbed at the Accident and Emergency department where she was working. It’s believed she is a nurse at Royal Oldham Hospital in Greater Manchester, where the attack happened. A 37-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. It is understood the woman

A police officer has been killed after being hit by a lorry while helping motorists who had been involved in a separate collision. PC Rosie Prior died was killed on the A19 at Bagby in North Yorkshire on Saturday morning. Another driver, Ryan Welford, 41, from Knaresborough, was also killed when the HGV struck him

Rachel Reeves’s trip to China – the first by a British chancellor since 2019 – was always going to be controversial. In recent years Conservative governments have been keeping Beijing at arm’s length – amid concern about espionage, the situation in Hong Kong, and the treatment of the Uyghurs. David Cameron‘s so-called “Golden Era” of

Nigel Farage has told Sky News he “can’t be pushed or bullied” by anybody after Elon Musk said the Reform MP “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead his party.  In an interview with Sky’s political correspondent Ali Fortescue, Mr Farage said he has spoken with the billionaire owner of X since his criticism on

Reform UK has grown in support to within one percentage point of Labour according to a new poll for Sky News by YouGov which suggests Britain has entered a new era of three-way party politics. Sir Keir Starmer looks set to spend the parliament locked in a fight with two right-wing parties after Labour support

Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago. Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday. The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right

Temperatures in a hamlet in northern Scotland fell to -18.7C (-1.66F) overnight – the UK’s coldest January night in 15 years, the Met Office has said. Altnaharra, in the northern region of the Highlands, reached the lowest temperature while nearby Kinbrace reached -17.9C (-0.22F). It is the coldest January overnight temperature since 2010, when temperatures

New warnings of widespread disruption caused by freezing weather have been issued, with temperatures expected to plummet to as low as -16C in some areas. Snow, ice and fog warnings have been issued, following on from severe weather on Wednesday, with the South West and south of England particularly affected by heavy snow. Devon and

The Met Office has put yellow weather warnings over snow and ice in place from this afternoon covering much of the UK. The Met had a number of yellow warnings in place on Thursday across the country, but most were initially set to expire by 11am, with only a snow and ice alert in Scotland

A “world first” sanctions regime which specifically targets people smugglers will be introduced by the government this year, David Lammy will announce. The foreign secretary will confirm the measure in a speech on Thursday, saying it is part of Labour’s plan to reduce Channel crossings by targeting criminal networks organising the journeys. Politics latest: MPs

A fresh weather warning for snow has been issued for southern England, with cautions for snow and ice already in place across much of the country. The Met Office’s yellow weather warning for snow covers the southern counties of England from 9am until midnight on Wednesday. The warning stretches from Kent to Cornwall and up

People whose homes have been destroyed by the floods sweeping across parts of the UK over the past couple of days have been telling Sky News how they coped with the deluge. In Lincolnshire, where a major incident has been declared, Terry, from Grantham, showed a Sky crew the aftermath of the deluge in his

Here’s a quiz question: how much would you say the supply of non-Russian gas to Europe (including the UK) has gone up since the invasion of Ukraine? It’s a pretty important question. After all, in the years before the invasion, Russian gas (coming in mostly through pipelines but, to a lesser extent, also on liquefied

A man’s body has been recovered from an area of flooding in North Yorkshire, police have said, as major incidents have been declared in two counties. The body was found near Intake Lane in Beal, close to Eggborough and Knottingley. Police believe the man may have entered the water in the last 24 to 48

A 32-year-old woman is cancer-free after undergoing the UK’s first liver transplant for advanced bowel cancer. Bianca Perea, a trainee lawyer from Manchester, was diagnosed with the most advanced kind of bowel cancer in November 2021, with doctors telling her they aimed to prolong her life rather than find a cure. But, alongside other treatments

Former RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner James Lee Williams, known as The Vivienne, has died at the age of 32. In a statement, a spokesperson said: “It is with immense sadness that we let you know our beloved James Lee Williams – The Vivienne, has passed this weekend. “James was an incredibly loved, warm-hearted and