Politics

Labour will pledge to “build British industry” through the use of a state-owned investment fund during the second day of the party’s conference in Liverpool. In her speech later today, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, will set out the party’s industrial strategy, which includes promises to invest in national projects from battery factories to clean

Labour will reverse the cut in the higher rate of income tax if it wins power at the next election, Sir Keir Starmer has said. Around 660,000 of the highest earners on more than £150,000 will benefit from the scrapping of the 45p rate, getting back on average £10,000 a year. Asked if Labour would

After last year’s showdown with the Labour left on party rules and the resignation of a shadow cabinet minister, Sir Keir Starmer is hoping for a calmer, happier conference in Liverpool. But the leader knows he is not in control of all his party’s levers – and his bête noires in Momentum and the Corbyn-backing

A union boss has said Sir Keir Starmer must “cosy up to working class people” to be effective in Opposition against the Conservative government. Speaking to Sky News’ chief political correspondent Jon Craig ahead of Labour’s party conference, RMT chief Mick Lynch said Sir Keir must “show a way that he identifies with the struggles

It may have been billed a mini-budget, but what Kwasi Kwarteng announced on Friday was massive. A package of tax cuts on a scale not seen for half a century, paid for through borrowing at increasingly expensive rates in the hope that it will deliver better growth. This is an administration that promised “shock and

In the end, Kwasi Kwarteng’s statement indeed cost more than £2 billion a minute and turned politics on its head. Threads that linked the three preceding Tory governments since 2010 were severed, while slogans, billboards and arguments about what it has meant in recent years to vote Conservative clattered into the waste bin. The new

Councils are calling on the new prime minister to honour her promise to put £13 billion into social care, as government plans to scrap the newly introduced national insurance levy were confirmed. Ahead of today’s mini-budget, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said the tax hike – introduced in April to pay for social care and tackle the

The foreign secretary has called on countries to reject the “charade” of referenda to be held in Russian-controlled regions in eastern and southern Ukraine. Speaking at the United Nations Security Council, James Cleverly said Vladimir Putin plans to fix the results of votes on becoming parts of Russia. He said: “We have information which means

Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats are part of a desperate attempt to justify his “catastrophic” failure in Ukraine, Liz Truss has said. In her first speech on the world stage as prime minister, Ms Truss accused the Russian president of “sabre rattling” after he warned his country would use “all the means at our disposal” to

Each minute Kwasi Kwarteng is on his feet at the dispatch box on Friday – and he is expected to speak for a minimum of 20 -  the chancellor will cost the taxpayer at least £2bn. Accompanied by a few pages of Treasury costings – but no formal forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility

Joe Biden will tell Liz Truss she must work with the EU to find a negotiated outcome to the Northern Ireland Protocol when they meet later today, the White House has said. The US president and the prime minister will hold a delayed meeting in New York on Wednesday, where world leaders have assembled for

A by-election will be held this autumn in a strong Labour seat after Rosie Cooper announced she was stepping down as an MP after 17 years. The Labour MP, who has represented West Lancashire since 2005, said the announcement “will come as a surprise to many people” as she had recently secured reselection to stand

The UK will match the support it has provided to Ukraine this year in 2023,  Liz Truss has pledged.  Ukraine’s army has reclaimed swathes of occupied territory in the east of the country in recent weeks, forcing Russian troops to retreat. In her first foreign trip as prime minister, Ms Truss is expected to point

The government is considering introducing a fixed discount for businesses on the amount they are charged per kilowatt hour for energy as part of its plans to tackle soaring prices, reports suggest. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy did not deny the policy was on the table ahead of the government’s mini budget,

An investigation into whether Sir Keir Starmer broke COVID rules cost Durham Police over £100,000, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. The Labour leader faced accusations after being pictured drinking a beer in an MP’s office in April 2021, with the incident being dubbed “beergate” by the press. He and his team were later

Train drivers will resume strike action next month in a long-running dispute over pay. A planned walkout by the Aslef union on 15 September was called off as a mark of respect following the death of the Queen. But now, drivers at 12 train firms will go ahead with industrial action on 1 October and

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney has expressed “cautious optimism” talks between the UK and Brussels to resolve the dispute over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland will restart within weeks. Private conversations he and the country’s prime minister Micheal Martin had had with Liz Truss’s recently installed administration indicated there was an opportunity for a “new

An official Chinese delegation has been barred from attending the Queen’s lying in state. House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will prevent access to Westminster Hall because of sanctions imposed by Beijing against a group of MPs and peers, a parliamentary source told the PA news agency. It came as crowds continued to pay

After the death of the Queen was announced last Thursday, MPs and peers stepped away from Parliament to observe a period of mourning for the monarch. But when they return to work in Westminster next week after the state funeral, they will have to hit the ground running with a busy in-tray of events and

The government will deliver a mini-budget on 23 September, Sky News understands. It is expected that details of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s plans to help households and business amid the cost of living crisis will be revealed. The new PM had vowed to hold an “emergency budget” during the Conservative Party’s leadership race “to get