UK

A government source has confirmed to Sky News its new Illegal Migration Bill would “seal off all the loopholes” and that UK officials are “certainly working towards getting the flights off by summer”. It comes as the home secretary signed an update to the government’s migrants agreement with Rwanda, expanding its scope to “all categories

Gary Lineker has returned to his presenting duties on the BBC, with football pundit Alan Shearer speaking about the “difficult situation” he and his colleagues faced after a row over impartiality. Lineker was forced off air in a row over a tweet criticising the government’s migration policy, with his co-presenters standing down from Match Of

Which rail services will be impacted? Avanti West Coast – One train per hour will run in both directions between London Euston and each of Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Preston. A limited service will operate to and from Glasgow. Chiltern Railways – No trains will run north of Banbury. There will be one train per

Kyle Walker will not face a criminal charge over an allegation that he indecently exposed himself in a bar, police have confirmed. The Manchester City and England footballer voluntarily attended a police station for questioning on Thursday following the circulation of a video on social media. The alleged incident was said to have happened in

More than 1,000 Passport Office staff across the UK will strike for five weeks in an escalation of a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union working at passport offices in Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newport, Peterborough and Southport will walk out from 3 April to 5 May.

NHS unions have reached a pay deal with the government in a major breakthrough that could herald the end of strikes by frontline staff in England. The offer consists of a one-off payment of 2% of their salary plus a COVID recovery bonus of 4% for the current financial year 2022/23, and a 5% pay

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has defended the speed of the rollout for his budget offer of free childcare for working parents, describing it as the “biggest transformation in childcare in my lifetime”. The new childcare package will see working families in England having access to 30 hours of free childcare per week for children aged between

The chancellor has announced the budget for 2023. The UK will now not enter a technical recession this year, say independent forecasters the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Inflation will more than halve and reduce to 2.9% by the end of the year, the OBR expects. Click here for our budget calculator to see if

Hundreds of thousands of workers will strike today in what could be the biggest walkout since the current wave of industrial action began. Teachers, university lecturers, civil servants, junior doctors, London Underground drivers and BBC journalists will form picket lines around the country to coincide with the chancellor’s budget, amid continuing dissatisfaction with issues including

The chancellor will promise to provide 30 hours of childcare a week to parents of one and two-year-olds, Sky News has learned. The multi-billion pound announcement is set to be made in tomorrow’s Budget. Families with children aged one and two do not currently receive support to cover the period after parental leave ends and

High-profile figures from sport and broadcasting appear to have poked fun at the BBC over its U-turn on the Gary Lineker impartiality row. After the corporation last Friday suspended the Match of the Day presenter, 62, for his tweets criticising the government’s migration policy, it has now agreed to allow him back on air this

Just 1% of more than 1,500 police officers or staff facing complaints about their treatment of women in a six-month period were sacked, casting further doubt on the police’s ability to tackle violence against women and girls. Data from the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) shows there were 524 complaints made by members of the

Gary Lineker is to return to presenting sport on the BBC after he was taken off air over his tweets criticising the government’s migration policy, Sky Sports News understands. It is understood the corporation will apologise to the Match Of The Day presenter. It follows a chaotic few days which saw reduced football coverage across

Sources close to Gary Lineker are increasingly confident the row with the BBC will be resolved to his satisfaction in the next 24 hours. Sky News also understands there could be a statement on the Lineker issue as early as tomorrow morning. It follows a tumultuous weekend for the BBC and its football shows, notably

The BBC’s director general has said bosses are “working very hard” to fix the damage done to the broadcaster following the suspension of Gary Lineker. Tim Davie was speaking after a day when Football Focus and Final Score were taken off the air and Match Of The Day – usually presented by Lineker – was

The BBC’s director general says the damage done to football programming following Gary Lineker’s suspension is a “real blow” but he will not be resigning. Tim Davie said he was “sorry audiences have been affected and they haven’t got the programming” after presenters and pundits pulled out in support of Lineker, whose social media criticism

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has been told to step back from his role on the BBC show due to views he has expressed on Twitter. Lineker has more than eight million followers on the social media platform and, after using it to criticise the government’s new bill on the treatment of asylum

Match of the Day will go ahead as planned on Saturday without “studio presentation or punditry”, and will instead focus on “match action”, the BBC has said. A BBC spokesperson said: “Some of our pundits have said that they don’t wish to appear on the programme while we seek to resolve the situation with Gary.

Blizzards are set to cause “treacherous conditions” in the UK – with winds of up to 50mph and up to 40cm of snow expected in some areas.   The Met Office has issued three amber warnings for northern England, the Midlands, North Wales and Northern Ireland, where “significant disruption” to transport and power supplies are

The government has announced the construction of sections of HS2 will be delayed by two years to save money. The high-speed railway was initially set to link London and the West Midlands with a further phase extending to cities in the North. However, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said on Thursday: “We have seen significant inflationary