Politics

Polls will open today at 7am for three by-elections across the country, as voters decide who they want to represent them in parliament. The seats of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London, Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire, and Somerton and Frome in Somerset, will all be up for grabs, with polls closing at

The Conservatives have lost the Somerton and Frome by-election to the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dem victory comes roughly a year after a similar result in the nearby Tiverton and Honiton by-election. David Warburton stood down as the constituency’s MP last month, but shortly after it was found that an investigation into claims he sexually

Susan Hall has been selected as the Conservative candidate for London mayor. She will face the current mayor, Sadiq Khan, when the next election is held in May 2024. Ms Hall, who has served on the London Assembly since 2017, won the race with 57% of the vote, compared with 43% for her opponent, Mozammel

Selby in Yorkshire, Somerton in the south west and Uxbridge in the London suburbs: from rural to town, from north to south – the three by-elections up this Thursday will tell a bigger story of the state of our politics, with records up for grabs. In these three seats – and the prospect of at

Two giant cruise ships set to house 1,000 asylum seekers were unable to find anywhere to dock and have been returned to their owners, a senior source has told Sky News. In June, Rishi Sunak announced the government acquired two more vessels, alongside the Bibby Stockholm barge – which arrived in Dorset today – as

A Tory MP has demanded to see safety reports for a barge that the government plans to use to house asylum seekers. The Bibby Stockholm – which will accommodate 500 people waiting for decisions on their applications – departed from Cornwall today to head to its new dock at Portland Port in Dorset. But Chris

A barge which will house 500 asylum seekers is on the move, with the first residents expected to board later this month. The barge – named the Bibby Stockholm – departed from Falmouth, Cornwall, to head to Portland Port in Dorset on Monday morning as Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman faced fresh criticism

The government is set to finish only 32 of its promised new 40 hospitals by 2030 as part of an over-budget and hard-to-deliver scheme, that might result in medical facilities that are “too small”, according to a “damning” report. The National Audit Office (NAO) has completed an investigation into the programme, initiated by the 2019

Tony Blair has said that the NHS is “not serving its purpose” in an exclusive interview with Sky News. Speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sunday, the former PM didn’t mince his words when addressing the current state of the UK’s health service. Asked if he thought the NHS was providing a good standard of service,

Defence minister Ben Wallace says he will stand down at the next election. Mr Wallace, the longest-serving Conservative defence secretary, said in an interview with The Times: “I’m not standing next time.” He added that he will not be resigning “prematurely” and forcing a by-election. Mr Wallace also confirmed he would leave the cabinet at

Senior Conservatives are said to be discussing abolishing inheritance tax – at an annual cost of £7billion to the Treasury – in a bid to win over voters ahead of the next election. Downing Street is in talks about whether to scrap the levy in an attempt to shore up votes in so-called “blue wall”

Ben Wallace – the longest-serving Conservative defence secretary – is considering leaving government in an anticipated autumn reshuffle, Sky News understands. It follows a failed UK bid to make Mr Wallace, 53, the next head of NATO and as the prime minister reportedly prepares to refresh his top team ahead of next year’s election. The

Two local councils have won their bid to try and block new asylum centres from opening in their areas. The Home Office announced plans earlier this year for RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and Wethersfield Airfield in Essex to be used to house people while they awaited for a decision on asylum applications. But West Lindsey

The government has “no strategy” to tackle the threat from China and has left the UK “severely handicapped” due to its “short-termist approach”, a new report has claimed. The Intelligence and Security Committee has published its work on the threat the country poses, saying China has managed to “successfully penetrate every sector of the UK’s

A powerful group of northern Tory MPs are being scrutinised by the parliamentary expenses watchdog after a Sky News investigation into the way they use public money. The investigation found nearly two dozen MPs received political donations from a private donor to help them with campaigning – weeks after they joined the Northern Research Group

Thousands of children with special educational needs or disabilities are missing out on the education they are entitled to because of huge delays in the system designed to support them. A record half a million pupils now have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – a legal document setting out a child or young

The Illegal Migration Bill is heading back to the House of Lords later after MPs voted against almost all of the changes previously proposed by peers. The controversial legislation bans people from claiming asylum if they arrived in the UK illegally, and puts a legal duty on the Home Office to remove them. Tonight the

Rishi Sunak has hinted there will be no tax cuts on offer from the government before the next general election, as his party faces three by-elections next week. A number of Conservative backbenchers have been pushing the prime minister for reductions to a range of levies, including corporation tax, income tax and fuel duty. But

A cabinet minister has cautioned MPs against using parliamentary privilege to name the BBC presenter who has been suspended over allegations he paid a teenager for sexually explicit photographs. Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said the facts appeared to have changed in the last 24 hours and MPs should wait to “see where all

Rishi Sunak will call on the UK’s NATO allies to commit to spending a minimum of 2% of their GDP on defence as he attends an alliance summit in Lithuania. The prime minister will argue the commitment will be crucial to NATO’s ability to deter and defend against the kind of tactics Russian President Vladimir