UK

Children as young as nine are getting sucked into drug dealing and violence – with thousands of young people in England “groomed, harmed and even killed”, a new report warns. The Commission on Young Lives is calling for urgent action and investment to tackle the “national threat to our country’s prosperity and security” – and

The Bank of England has raised the base rate of interest by 0.75 percentage points to 3% – the single biggest increase in more than three decades – and said that the UK is already in recession. The Bank warned that the UK could face a protracted contraction in the coming years, with high inflation

The Bank of England is expected to unveil the biggest interest rate rise in decades today. A rise of 0.75 percentage points is anticipated, the biggest since 1992 – pushing the base rate to 3%, a level not seen since 2008. If confirmed, this could push up mortgage bills for millions of people in the

The Home Office is facing a judicial review over the conditions at the migrant Manston processing centre, the immigration minister has told Sky News. Robert Jenrick said the legal action has begun after reports of severe overcrowding at the centre in Kent, which is meant to hold 1,600 people but has been housing about 4,000

Hundreds – if not thousands – of police officers who should have failed vetting checks may be serving in England and Wales, a watchdog has warned. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services found cases where criminal behaviour was dismissed as a “one off”; applicants with links to “extensive criminality” in their families

Boris Johnson has told Sky News that he does not think Vladimir Putin will use a tactical nuclear weapon in his war in Ukraine. There have been suggestions that the Russian president could carry out such a military strike as his forces continue to lose territory which they captured earlier in the invasion. But in

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has rejected language used by the home secretary describing the increase of asylum seekers to the UK as an “invasion”. Suella Braverman told MPs yesterday that the public needs to know which party is serious about “stopping the invasion” of migrants on the southern coast of the UK. Mr Jenrick, when

Suella Braverman has said she “never ignored legal advice” about sending migrants to hotels from an overcrowded processing centre. The home secretary said she knew “the importance of taking legal advice into account” and never tried to stop migrants from the Manston processing centre from being sent to hotels. “At every point, I’ve worked hard

As new PM Rishi Sunak begins his first full week in office, pressure is already mounting on him over his Home Secretary’s handling of the growing migrant issue – and over his own snub of the upcoming climate summit. It emerged on Monday that more than 110 refugee charities have signed an open, and pointed,

Petrol bombs have been thrown at a Border Force migrant centre in Dover. Emergency crews were called to the site in Kent shortly after 11.20am after Reuters news agency – who had a photographer at the scene – reported that a man had thrown petrol bombs attached with fireworks at the centre. The photographer captured

Labour is urging the government to publish its assessments of Suella Braverman’s security breach following her controversial reappointment as home secretary just six days after she was forced out. New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure over reinstating Ms Braverman as home secretary after a former party chair claimed she had committed “multiple

Britain has denied Russian claims that Royal Navy personnel blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last month, saying the story is “invented”. A Ministry of Defence tweet said: “To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic

A man wanted in connection with the deaths of 39 people found in the back of an Essex lorry will appear in court this morning. Marius Mihai Draghici is suspected of being part of a conspiracy that led to the deaths of the Vietnamese nationals, whose bodies were discovered in the lorry container on 23

Britain’s Ministry of Defence sent serving Royal Air Force pilots to China to teach a course to their Chinese counterparts and allowed Chinese nationals to study at UK military colleges, Sky News can reveal. Up to four frontline pilots took part in the ‘Aviation English Course’ in Beijing that ran in 2016, while at least

Northern Ireland is set to have an Assembly election before Christmas because the deadline to restore devolved government at Stormont has expired. The region has been in a political crisis for months with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refusing to return to power-sharing since losing its status as the nation’s largest party to Sinn Fein

More than 20 former patients or their relatives have revealed how they were “treated worse than animals” and failed by the “awful” care they received at mental health hospitals for teenagers. Testimonies gathered in an investigation by Sky News raise repeated allegations of over-restraint and inadequate staffing which youngsters say left people at increased risk

Britain’s year of political turmoil could cost the taxpayer up to £726,000 in severance payments to former ministers and whips, Sky News analysis of House of Commons library data has found. Since the beginning of the year, 79 government ministers and whips have either been sacked or have resigned. And 71 of them are likely

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

Rishi Sunak will make his debut at Prime Minister’s Questions at lunchtime, in what is shaping up to be the first big test of his leadership.  The new PM will face Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in the Commons – a day after culling almost a dozen Conservative ministers from the cabinet. Jacob Rees-Mogg has

Rishi Sunak has made his first speech as prime minister, saying he was chosen to take over to “fix” the mistakes made by Liz Truss. Speaking outside Number 10, the former chancellor praised his predecessor’s “restlessness” and her “noble aim” to improve economic growth in the UK. But, he added: “Some mistakes were made, not