Politics

The Scottish Greens will not support Scotland’s first minister in a confidence vote next week after they were sacked as government ministers earlier today. The Green’s leader, Patrick Harvie, is expected to make the announcement at 5.30pm. His party was forced out of government by SNP leader Humza Yousaf, who said the power-sharing pact had

Labour will promise to deliver the biggest shake-up to rail “in a generation” by establishing the long-delayed Great British Railways (GBR) organisation and bringing routes back into public ownership. Making the announcement in a speech on Thursday, shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh will also pledge to establish a “best-price ticket guarantee” for travellers, offer automatic

Labour’s Angela Rayner has attacked the Conservatives for “obsessing” over her living arrangements while renters continue to face uncertainty over the government’s promise to end no-fault evictions. The deputy leader has been facing scrutiny over the sale of her former home in Stockport from before she was an MP, with claims she did not pay

On the plane from Warsaw to Berlin, Rishi Sunak was buoyant as he briefly chatted to the travelling pack.  Having delivered his hattrick of welfare reforms, the Rwanda bill and now the big lift in defence spending, he was a prime minister who clearly feels on the front foot after a torrid few months. He

Rishi Sunak warned the world is now “more volatile and dangerous” than at any time since the Cold War, as the prime minister embarked on a trip to Poland and Germany to discuss the threat of expansionist Russia and refocus the world’s eyes back on to Ukraine. Speaking to journalists on the flight over to

The House of Lords has pushed the government’s Rwanda Bill back to the Commons again as a row continues over the controversial plan to “stop the boats”. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters on Monday that “enough is enough”, promising the legislation would pass its final parliamentary stages this evening, “no matter how late it

Rishi Sunak is undertaking a week-long blitz of activity and announcements at home and abroad in a bid to convince a sceptical party he has the ideas and drive to continue as prime minister. After weeks of criticism about an empty legislative agenda, an inability to set the agenda, and divisions in the Tory Party

The prime minister has said the first deportation flights to Rwanda will leave “in 10 to 12 weeks”, hours before MPs are due to vote on his emergency legislation. Rishi Sunak added that the government has “an airfield on standby and booked commercial charter planes”. “No ifs, not buts, these flights are going to Rwanda,”

Sadiq Khan has confidence in Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley despite him facing calls to quit over the force’s handling of a recent pro-Palestine protest, Sky News understands. It comes after Energy Secretary Claire Coutino told Sky News that the incident in London – in which an officer was captured on video calling a man

Rishi Sunak has revealed he will keep the two-child benefit cap if the Conservatives win the next election. The policy limits the benefits parents on Universal Credit can claim for their children. Writing in The Sun on Sunday, the prime minister said: “Working families do not see their incomes rise when they have more children.

A powersharing agreement between the SNP and the Greens at Holyrood is under threat after the Scottish government ditched a key climate change target. The Scottish Green Party has said a vote on the deal, to be held at a forthcoming extraordinary general meeting (EGM), would be binding. The date of the assembly and the

The Conservatives were warned ex-Tory MP Mark Menzies’s alleged misuse of party funds may have constituted fraud but the whistleblower was told there was no duty to report it Mr Menzies, the MP for Fylde in Lancashire, gave up the Tory whip in the wake of reports in The Times that he misused party funds.

Nicola Sturgeon has described her personal situation as “incredibly difficult” after her husband was charged in connection with the embezzlement of SNP funds. Peter Murrell, who was chief executive of the party until March 2023, was rearrested on Thursday amid a long-running Police Scotland investigation into the SNP’s finances, dubbed Operation Branchform. The 59-year-old remained

Rishi Sunak is to call for an end to the “sick note culture” in a major speech on welfare reform – as he warns against “over-medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life”. The prime minister wants to shift the focus to “what people can do with the right support in place, rather than what

This was the week it was meant to be done.  Having forced the House of Commons to vote down the Lords’ amendments to the prime minister’s flagship illegal immigration bill three times, peers would typically have bowed out of the battle this time around and passed the Rwanda bill. Instead, they sought to amend the

The House of Lords has delayed the passing of the government’s Rwanda bill until next week – in a blow to Rishi Sunak’s attempts to get planes off the ground deporting illegal migrants to the country. MPs overturned Tuesday’s attempts by the House of Lords to dilute the plan – but peers have now put

The government is “working on operationalising” Rwanda flights, a minister has said – amid reports RAF planes could be used for the controversial deportation scheme. Laura Trott did not deny a story in The Times newspaper which said migrants might have to be flown to the east African nation on RAF Voyagers because the Home

New defeats for the government’s Rwanda bill in the House of Lords have set up a parliamentary showdown on Wednesday – forcing MPs to consider changes to Rishi Sunak’s stop the boats plan. Downing Street wants to get the bill – which declares Rwanda a safe country and stops appeals from asylum seekers being sent

Nigel Farage said police would “have to drag me off stage” after officers moved to shut down the National Conservatism conference in Brussels. Local officials arrived as the former Brexit Party leader was finishing a speech at the event, which is also due to hear from Hungary’s pro-Putin leader Viktor Orbán and two Conservative MPs.

MPs have rejected a series of Lords’ amendments to the government’s Rwanda bill – as a week of parliamentary showdown on the legislation begins. The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill is currently in the middle of what is known as ping-pong, where the two houses propose, debate and vote on amendments. So far,