Politics

Labour has withdrawn its support for Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali following criticism of remarks he made about Israel. However, he will still appear on the ballot as the party’s candidate on Thursday 29 February. Politics latest: Labour in ‘absolute mess’ over by-election So, what happened and why can’t he be replaced? Mr Ali’s candidacy

Israel should “stop and think” before taking any further action in Rafah, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said – as the UK sanctioned settlers in the West Bank. The former prime minister said the UK was “very concerned” about the situation on the Gaza-Egypt border. Local health officials have said 37 people were killed in

Labour’s candidate in Rochdale “fell for an online conspiracy” that led to his remarks over the 7 October attacks in Israel, a shadow minister has said. Councillor Azhar Ali told a meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party in the wake of the atrocity that Israel deliberately allowed the massacre to go ahead to give it

Labour’s by-election candidate in Rochdale was “completely wrong” to say Israel deliberately allowed the 7 October massacre to give it the “green light” to invade Gaza, the party’s UK campaign coordinator has said. But senior shadow frontbencher Pat McFadden told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips confirmed Azhar Ali will still stand for the

The defence secretary is said to be “furious” after it was reported the British Army wants to relax security clearance vetting for overseas recruits to boost diversity and inclusion. The UK’s armed forces are looking overseas to boost ethnic minority representation because they have consistently failed to hit recruitment targets, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

Fujitsu is set to have received more than £3.4bn through contracts from Treasury-linked organisations since 2019, despite its role in the Post Office scandal, MPs have found. The international tech firm, which is under intense scrutiny, was awarded around £1.4bn worth of deals since a 2019 High Court ruling concluding there had been numerous bugs

Rishi Sunak has promised to reward hard work with tax cuts as he struck an optimistic note over the UK’s economic prospects. Official figures next week may show the UK slipped into a technical recession at the end of last year, while the prime minister is facing a heavy opinion poll deficit against Labour and

Rishi Sunak has published his personal tax return, showing he paid more than half a million pounds in UK tax last year. The document shows he paid a tax bill of £508,308 in the financial year 2022-23. His income included £1.8m in capital gains, as well as his £150,000 prime minister’s salary. The prime minister

Rishi Sunak has again refused to apologise for comments he made about transgender people in parliament this week, despite calls from Brianna Ghey’s father to do so. Mr Sunak rejected suggestions he made a joke during Prime Minister’s Questions when Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghey, was in parliament. “That is not what I did, it is

Rishi Sunak should apologise for his transgender jibe which was made while Brianna Ghey’s mother was in parliament, Gordon Brown has told Sky News. The former PM was speaking to the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge a day after the current occupier of Number 10 joked during Prime Minister’s Questions about Sir Keir Starmer’s record

Rishi Sunak has declined to apologise for his joke about transgender people, despite Brianna Ghey’s father calling for him to say sorry. The prime minister was criticised for aiming the political dig about transgender people at Sir Keir Starmer, saying the Labour leader had broken promises on “defining a woman” while Brianna’s mother, Esther Ghey,

Rishi Sunak said he still speaks to Boris Johnson “on occasion” – and did not rule out bringing the former prime minister back into his cabinet. Mr Sunak said he was “proud” of what the pair achieved before he became one of the first in a series of ministerial departures which ended in the former

As the next general election draws closer, three political powerhouses are uniting to unravel the spin in a new weekly podcast from Sky News. Launching on 1 March, Electoral Dysfunction will bring together our Political Editor Beth Rigby, Labour MP Jess Phillips and former leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson to analyse the week

Nigel Farage believes it’s possible to replace the Conservative Party with his own Reform Party as he predicts an “extinction event” for the government at the next election. Mr Farage was speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby at the launch of the Popular Conservatism (PopCon) group in Westminster. Headlined by former prime minister

A man has been arrested on suspicion of sending malicious communications to MP Mike Freer. Mr Freer, currently a minister and the MP for Finchley and Golders Green, last week said he would not be standing for election after a raft of death threats and abuse. He said an arson attack on his office on

Rishi Sunak has wished the King a “speedy recovery” after Buckingham Palace announced he was diagnosed with a form of cancer. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on X: “Wishing His Majesty a full and speedy recovery. “I have no doubt he’ll be back to full strength in no time and I know the whole country

Rishi Sunak has insisted the priority in Northern Ireland is “day-to-day” governing rather than “constitutional change”. The prime minister was in Northern Ireland to celebrate the restoration of power-sharing in the nation. This came after changes were made to the post-Brexit settlement, reducing the checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of

Rishi Sunak is visiting Northern Ireland to celebrate the restoration of power-sharing at Stormont, where he will meet the country’s first nationalist first minister. Over the weekend, an executive was finally re-established after almost two years without one in the region. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which had been holding up the process, allowed a

The Clapham chemical attack is “not really about asylum”, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has claimed. A manhunt is still under way for Abdul Ezedi following the attack on Wednesday 31 January in which a mother, 31, and her two children, three and eight, were hospitalised. After two failed attempts, the 35-year-old suspect’s asylum claim to

Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill has made history by being appointed Northern Ireland’s first nationalist first minister. A power-sharing government has returned as politicians gathered at Stormont to appoint a series of ministers to the devolved executive, two years after it collapsed over the UK government’s deal with the EU. The Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) Emma