Politics

Sir Keir Starmer was wooing Sue Gray to become his chief of staff for at least four months before announcing her appointment, Sky News has discovered. The Labour leader has repeatedly refused to disclose when the first contact between the pair took place. But Sky News understands his first discussion with the top civil servant

Understanding the context of four years ago, when most of these seats were last contested, should help us to follow the council results as they are declared.  The Conservatives were unpopular, suffered a serious loss of councils and more than 1,300 seats. It wasn’t Labour that inflicted such terrible losses – in fact, Labour lost

There are three ways to judge how well the political parties do on election night. First, by the number of council seats gained, secondly by the number of councils won and lost and thirdly by looking at vote shares – the proportion of people who vote for each of the main parties. None of them

A group of unions representing NHS staff – including nurses – has voted to accept a pay offer from the government. It comes despite the Royal College of Nursing and Unite rejecting the offer – as an electoral college of union representatives and members voted en masse as part of the NHS Staff Council. Many

A crucial meeting between unions and NHS employers is expected to pave the way towards a resolution of the long-running pay dispute, which has led to numerous strikes. The NHS Staff Council will today hear reports from unions to decide whether to accept the government’s offer of a 5% pay rise and cash sum for

Labour says there is an emerging “pattern of behaviour” after a company partially owned by the prime minister’s wife was revealed to have received taxpayer cash. It comes after it was revealed that Akshata Murty held shares in a childcare company which stands to benefit from policy announced in the budget. Ms Murty, who is

Striking rail staff should want to stand in solidarity with fellow Ukrainian workers rather than “cynically target” the Eurovision Song Contest, which the UK is hosting on behalf of the war-torn nation, the transport secretary has said. Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Mark Harper argued the stricken country’s train network has

National exemptions are in place to provide critical care during strike action by nurses, a union leader has insisted, telling Sky News staff would never leave patients unsafe or create more risk. Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Pat Cullen was speaking to Sophy Ridge On Sunday ahead of a 28-hour walkout by members

Sir Keir Starmer has denied that a Labour attack advert aimed at Rishi Sunak is racist. A series of recent ads, which have been described as “gutter politics” and criticised by some of Labour’s own MPs, have targeted the prime minister personally. In an interview with Sky News, Sophy Ridge questioned the party leader about

Labour will perform strongest in the Midlands and north of England next week, according to an exclusive new local election projection for Sky News, which suggests the “Red wall” is starting to abandon the Conservatives. The Tories are also likely to struggle in key bellwether seats elsewhere in England – although the pollster did not

Labour insiders have expressed concern about Tory plans to ramp up attacks on Sir Keir Starmer’s tenure as director of public prosecutions, Sky News can reveal. The Labour leader has repeatedly referenced his time leading the Crown Prosecution Service between 2008 and 2013 as a core part of his political pitch to voters. At PMQs

Richard Sharp has resigned as chairman of the BBC in the wake of a report into his appointment following a cronyism row. Mr Sharp said the report found he had breached the government’s code for the public appointments but said it was “inadvertent”. The matter has been a “distraction” for the BBC and he has

More than 3,000 people eligible to come to the UK are trapped in Afghanistan, the government has admitted. In 2021, the UK organised a hurried evacuation to get vulnerable Afghans and British citizens out of the country after the Taliban seized control of Kabul. But responding to a damning report from the Commons’ defence committee

A new tax on gambling firms and maximum stakes for online slot machines are being considered under government plans to crack down on online addiction. The government is due to publish its highly anticipated gambling review on Thursday following a number of delays. Among the measures expected to be confirmed in the report is a

Malcolm Cameron-Lee thought he was doing the right thing when he decided to invest his lifesavings into property twenty years ago to fund a comfortable retirement. At the time, “pension schemes were being mismanaged” and, as an electrical contractor, he believed “the way things were working it was better to fend for yourself”. But the

The government is confident it is “on track” to meet its manifesto pledge of recruiting 20,000 new police officers, the home secretary has said. The promise was made as part of the government’s 2019 manifesto – but critics have pointed out that it has already missed the deadline, which was set for March this year.

Rishi Sunak must stand up for the civil service after Dominic Raab’s resignation over bullying complaints from his staff, a former Foreign Office chief has said. Mr Raab quit his roles in government last week after two complaints were upheld against him for acting in an “intimidating way” and being “unreasonably and persistently aggressive” in

Spiking someone’s drink or injecting them with drugs or alcohol will be made a specific offence under Labour, Sir Keir Starmer has announced.  Labour would bring in the measure if it wins power as part of its plan to clamp down on violence against women and girls. Sir Keir said that in a roundtable with

The government will take a nursing union to court next week in an attempt to stop its latest strike action. Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) are due to walk-out for 48 hours from 8pm on Sunday night until 8pm on Tuesday 2 May after rejecting the latest pay offer from the government.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he “utterly condemns” comments made by MP Diane Abbott in which she suggested Jews, Irish people and travellers do not face racism. Ms Abbott, who has been a Labour MP since the 1980s, was yesterday suspended from the parliamentary party pending an investigation into her remarks, which were