Politics

A £5bn grant scheme to help pubs, restaurants and retailers hit hardest by lockdown restrictions is set to be unveiled by the chancellor in Wednesday’s budget. Rishi Sunak is also planning to support first-time buyers by incentivising lenders to accept deposits of just 5% for properties up to £600,000. The chancellor has warned hard decisions

Glasgow MSP Anas Sarwar has been elected as Scottish Labour’s new leader – just 10 weeks before the Holyrood elections. The party was forced to vote for a new leader after Richard Leonard’s shock resignation in January, claiming his decision was in the “best interests” of the party. Mr Sarwar was quick to throw his

As former first minister Alex Salmond waved to photographers on his exit from Holyrood, something else left the building. An email sent by the Scottish Parliament’s harassment committee that might yet breach the evidence impasse. For as long, detailed and explosive as six hours of testimony was from Mr Salmond, it’s not underpinned by available

Scotland’s leadership has “failed”, Alex Salmond has told a Holyrood inquiry into the SNP government’s unlawful investigation of sexual harassment claims made against him. The former first minister said Nicola Sturgeon’s administration had “acted illegally” in its handling of the allegations “but somehow no one’s to blame”. Mr Salmond said “this inquiry is not about

Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond is set to elaborate today on claims that his successor Nicola Sturgeon misled parliament.  Mr Salmond will give evidence to Holyrood’s harassment committee following his written submission which levelled accusations against Ms Sturgeon as well as senior figures in her government and party. He has accused the current first

Allowing teachers to award grades to pupils this summer is “as good as compromise as we can come to” following the cancellation of formal exams, Boris Johnson has said. The prime minister described this year’s system for awarding A-level and GCSE grades in England – as well as some vocational and technical qualifications – as

A-level and GCSE students in England will get their teacher-assessed grades earlier in August to give them more time to appeal. Gavin Williamson announced in January that exams would be scrapped this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pupils will return to the classroom from 8 March as lockdown is eased, with the government on

Alex Salmond may not now appear before a Holyrood committee tomorrow after some of his evidence in a dispute with the devolved administration and the SNP was redacted from the parliament’s website, his lawyer has said. David McKie said he was “urgently” seeking “the legal basis for the proposed redactions”. Some 474 words appear to

The prime minister has announced an extra £400m to help children in England catch up on lost learning caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which will include asking secondary schools to run classes in the summer holidays. Boris Johnson said the “extensive programme”, backed by a total of £700m in funding, will give teachers the “tools

Scotland’s route out of lockdown will come in stages, with the country’s stay-at-home order set to end on 5 April, followed weeks later by a return to a system of levels. Unveiling the plan, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs that at present there is “limited scope” to ease restrictions. She said the Scottish government

At first glance any lockdown lifting plan that is being criticised both as too fast and too slow might appear to have struck the right balance of risks. The public appears to believe so. According to a snap poll by YouGov tonight, voters think the 60-page blueprint set out by Boris Johnson on balance made

England is set to remove all legal limits on people’s social contact by 21 June, the prime minister has announced. After schools reopen on 8 March, with some outdoor restrictions lifted by 29 March, Boris Johnson said the next step will be to reopen beer gardens and hairdressers in England from 12 April at the

There are going to be lots of disappointed people when they hear Boris Johnson set out Monday’s lockdown lifting plan. Those who had pinned their hopes on near-instantaneous reopening of shops that were shut, those wanting to go to a pub garden with friends, those wanting to go away to a holiday cottage in the

The number of cases of South African and Brazilian COVID variants in the UK appears to be falling, the health secretary has told Sky News. Matt Hancock said there was evidence that enhanced contact-tracing and stricter border measures were helping to control the number of people being infected by those new variants first discovered abroad.

Boris Johnson has pledged that every adult in the UK should be offered a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of July. The accelerated vaccine rollout would help protect the most vulnerable sooner and also enable the easing of some lockdown restrictions, the prime minister said. People aged 50 and over and those with underlying health

The prime minister is still aiming to reopen all schools in England next month despite concerns from teachers and scientists. Ahead of an announcement about easing coronavirus lockdown on Monday, Downing Street refused to be drawn on specific reports that more extensive outdoor socialising could be allowed by Easter, including suggestions that two households will

Sadiq Khan has received his first dose of a coronavirus vaccine and urged members of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities to follow suit, declaring: “I wouldn’t be taking the jab if I didn’t think it was safe.” The London mayor received a COVID-19 jab on Friday morning at a vaccine centre located inside

The government unlawfully failed to publish details of coronavirus-related contracts worth billions, the High Court has ruled. The Good Law Project launched a judicial review against the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) over its “wholesale failure” to disclose details of the COVID-19-related contracts. Under law, the government has to publish a “contract award

At least 10,000 children in care were placed in potentially unsafe accommodation including caravans, tents and barges, a Sky News investigation has found.  Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that local councils used unregulated accommodation to house vulnerable children – even though these settings were not subject to inspection or regulation by Ofsted. Between January 2019 and December

Sir Keir Starmer has set out his vision for a post-coronavirus Britain, declaring: “We can’t return to business as usual.” The Labour leader said the COVID-19 crisis had exposed the UK’s “fragilities” and must prompt a bout of national soul-searching, declaring now was a “moment to think again about the country we want to be”.