Politics

Candidates who wish to stand for Labour at the next election will be given the right to appeal if the party rejects their bid to become an MP, Sky News can reveal. Labour has faced accusations of fixing parliamentary selections for candidates who are preferred by the leadership while using “due diligence” checks to bar

Rishi Sunak has defended plans to detain child migrants as part of his new immigration bill, claiming excluding them from the legislation would “incentivise” criminal gangs to bring them to the UK in small boats. The Illegal Migration Bill is currently being debated in the Commons, and includes measures to “detain and swiftly remove” migrants

Humza Yousaf has been officially elected as Scotland’s new first minister after he was backed by a majority of MSPs. Following his victory in the SNP leadership race on Monday, the 37-year-old faced a vote at Holyrood to confirm him as Nicola Sturgeon’s successor. Opposition parties were able to put themselves forward in the process,

Kate Forbes has rejected a job offer from Scotland’s new first minister Humza Yousaf and will return to the backbenches after serving in government for almost five years. A senior source told Sky News that Ms Forbes, who narrowly lost the SNP leadership race to Mr Yousaf on Monday, was asked to take on the

Controversy over Boris Johnson’s involvement in partygate and COVID-19 rule-breaking has been dismissed as “soggy sandwiches and a slice of birthday cake” by an ally of the former prime minister. Tory MP Paul Bristow told Sky News the fine handed to Mr Johnson by Scotland Yard over a lockdown-busting gathering in Downing Street was “ridiculous”.

Boris Johnson is facing a fight for his political career after MPs said evidence strongly suggests breaches of COVID rules would have been “obvious” to the then PM. The cross-party privileges committee said the Commons may have been misled at least four times over Partygate allegations, and MPs are set to cross-examine Mr Johnson in

Boris Johnson says he believed “implicitly” that he was following COVID rules after a committee of MPs said it would have been “obvious” the rules were being broken around him at Downing Street gatherings. He also suggested that Sue Gray, who led an earlier civil service report into parties and has just been appointed Sir Keir

Evidence strongly suggests it would have been “obvious” to Boris Johnson COVID rules were being breached at Downing Street gatherings he attended, an inquiry into whether he misled parliament has said. MPs on the cross-party Commons Privileges Committee were tasked with investigating whether Mr Johnson misled parliament over partygate allegations after Sir Keir Starmer tabled

Sue Gray has been appointed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to serve as his chief of staff. The senior civil servant became a household name during the partygate scandal, authoring the report which found “a failure of leadership and judgement” in Number 10 during Boris Johnson’s premiership. Conservative MPs and former cabinet ministers have

Matt Hancock has denounced what he said was a “massive betrayal and breach of trust” following the leaking of lockdown WhatsApp messages. The exchanges were published in The Daily Telegraph after he shared them with journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who worked with the former health secretary on his Pandemic Diaries book. In a lengthy statement, Mr

Sir Gavin Williamson accused teachers of looking for an “excuse” not to work during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to leaked messages from Matt Hancock published by The Daily Telegraph. In May 2020, as teachers prepared for classrooms to reopen, the then education secretary had messaged Mr Hancock asking for help in securing personal protective equipment

Matt Hancock allegedly rejected COVID-19 testing advice for residents going into England’s care homes while he was health secretary during the worst of the pandemic, according to a report based on thousands of leaked WhatsApp messages. The Daily Telegraph claims that chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty had told Mr Hancock in April 2020

Rishi Sunak has said his new post-Brexit deal puts Northern Ireland in an “unbelievably special position” because it gives it access to both the UK and European Union markets. The prime minister said implementing the newly negotiated Windsor Framework would create “the world’s most exciting economic zone” with international companies “queuing up to invest” in the

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has outlined details of the “new Windsor Framework” agreed with the European Union to overcome trade barriers in Northern Ireland following Brexit. The prime minister said the agreement was a “historic” and a “decisive breakthrough” that “delivers smooth-flowing trade within the whole of the United Kingdom, protects Northern Ireland’s place in

Rishi Sunak will continue to push forward with his new post-Brexit deal today as he seeks to convince politicians from Northern Ireland it will solve ongoing issues with trade and sovereignty. The prime minister signed the Windsor Framework on Monday, alongside European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, to make changes to the much debated

Ursula von der Leyen will meet with the King this afternoon as she discusses changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol in Windsor with the prime minister, Sky News understands. Charles and the European Commission president will sit down for tea late on Monday after she is expected to sign off on a Northern Ireland Protocol

Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet today for “final talks” about the Northern Ireland Protocol. The prime minister and president are expected to meet late lunchtime in Berkshire to discuss the Brexit treaty, Downing Street said as it released details of the meeting. Cabinet ministers will be updated on

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has told Sky News he would resign from the cabinet if bullying claims against him are upheld. The deputy prime minister is being investigated by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC over a string of formal complaints by civil servants about his conduct. Speaking to the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Mr

The UK and EU are “inching towards a conclusion” on revising post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, the Irish prime minister has said. An agreement is possible “but by no means guaranteed”, Leo Varadkar added. Momentum has been building through weeks of fraught talks and a deal to ease checks on trade introduced under the