Politics

This weekend the prime minister is heading to the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh. Rishi Sunak is not going for a late sunshine break after his first fortnight in Number 10, he will be representing the UK at the COP27 climate change summit in Egypt. He made a point of announcing that he

The government says it still supports the Sizewell C nuclear power plant and is hoping to get a deal over the line to fully fund the project as soon as possible. Funding towards the Suffolk plant totalling £700m was signed off by Boris Johnson at the start of September in one of his last acts

Two groups of people who had crossed the Channel in small boats were left stranded in London after a “misunderstanding” with Home Office officials, a minister has confirmed. Chris Philp, the policing minister, claimed the groups had told immigration officials “they had addresses to go to, so friends and family, and that turned out subsequently

Downing Street has defended Suella Braverman after she flew to an overcrowded migration centre in a £3,500-an-hour military helicopter. The home secretary avoided questions from the press as she met the Dover coastguard and travelled to the Manston facility in a Chinook. At one point in recent days, as many as 4,000 people were being

A Tory MP should be suspended from the Commons for suggesting the standards commissioner’s potential peerage depended on ruling against him over lobbying breaches, the Standards Committee has recommended Andrew Bridgen should be suspended for five sitting days, the parliamentary committee that oversees the work of the standards commissioner said. The committee found the MP

The Home Office is facing legal action over conditions at the Manston migrant processing centre – as reports suggest asylum seekers were removed from the site and “abandoned” at London Victoria station. Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told Sky News that a judicial review is being brought following reports of severe overcrowding at the centre in

All of Rishi Sunak’s campaign pledges from the summer leadership contest are under review. The prime minister’s official spokeswoman said that the pledges were made a few months ago, when the context was “somewhat different”. Secretaries of state are to be consulted on the specifics of their departments. Sunak ‘absolutely hammered’ on immigration at PMQs

The government is testing plans to cope with energy blackouts that could last up to seven days, according to a report. The Guardian says that a series of exercises has been held with government departments and councils across the country in recent days. Programme Yarrow was drawn up in 2021 to improve planning and resilience

The autumn statement this month will likely encompass “rough” tax rises as the Treasury seeks to fill a multi-billion “black hole” in the nation’s finances, Sky News has been told. The warning from a source in the Treasury comes after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met yesterday morning. They discussed what is

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

The situation at the Manston migration centre in Kent is a “breach of humane conditions”, according to the Tory MP for the area. Conservative backbencher Sir Roger Gale told Sky News overcrowding at the facility – where outbreaks of MRSA and diphtheria have been reported – is “wholly unacceptable”. The site is only designed to

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

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

On the face of it, Rishi Sunak’s first Prime Minister’s Questions was an assured performance. The former chancellor was combative, confident and fluid. But it was also a session in which the new prime minister showed us how conscious he is that his political legitimacy hangs by a thread. Because being appointed as the UK’s