Politics

Fixing the Northern Ireland Protocol “cannot be put off”, the deputy prime minister has said amid fears that progress on power sharing will remain stalled after last Thursday’s elections. Dominic Raab told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that stability was being “imperilled” by problems with the protocol, which governs Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Sinn Fein has become the first nationalist party to win the most seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly in its 101-year history. Voters flocked to the polls to elect 90 new members of the Legislative Assembly, with Sinn Fein winning a lion’s share of the seats. As counting concluded in the early hours of Sunday

Boris Johnson will reshuffle his cabinet before the summer recess, according to allies of the prime minister. Following dismal local election results for the Conservatives allies of the prime minister have indicated a reshuffle is not imminent. However, they told Sky News Mr Johnson is expected to change his top team before the summer recess,

Tory MPs are assessing the fall-out after a “tough night” for Boris Johnson in his first test at the ballot box since being fined for breaking lockdown rules. The Conservatives lost nearly 500 seats in England, Wales, and Scotland in Thursday’s council elections, with partygate and the cost of living crisis cited by local leaders

All eyes are on Sinn Fein as counting takes place in the Northern Ireland Assembly election. For the first time ever, an Irish nationalist party could emerge as the largest at Stormont. For a century, one of the pro-British Unionist parties has held sway in the devolved government. But the Democratic Unionist Party’s 20 years

Votes are starting to be counted in a set of elections that will help us gauge the political fortunes of Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer. Although people have cast their ballots for local representatives who will be responsible for planning issues, housing and rubbish collections, these local elections give voters a chance to have

Sinn Fein is braced for a historic victory as the first votes are counted in the election of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Voters are choosing a new 90-seat Assembly, with polls suggesting the Irish nationalist party, and former political wing of the IRA, could win the largest number of seats – and the post of

The SNP has retained its position as Scotland’s biggest party in local elections while Labour has pushed the Tories into third place. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Sky News her party – in government at Holyrood for 15 years – had won the poll “by a country mile”. The results showed the SNP on 453

The main parties will put entirely different spins on local election results declared overnight. Labour will highlight historic gains in London with Barnet, Westminster and Wandsworth front and centre of its soundbites. And make no mistake these are historic gains. Politics Hub: Live updates as Labour win Westminster for first time ever The Conservatives had

The big picture is still taking shape, with a lot more results to come in, but we’re getting a sense of the mood within the political parties. Labour have achieved a morale-boosting triple whammy in London, taking Wandsworth, Westminster and Barnet councils – all Conservative strongholds in the city where Boris Johnson used to be

This is not an easy election to analyse: the picture is mixed and messy. As dawn breaks on Friday, nobody – perhaps with the exception of the Lib Dems – should be overly happy with the results. Tories suffered losses – perhaps not as many as they might. Two losing council leaders, one in the

Sir Keir Starmer will be investigated by police over “beergate” – the allegation he broke lockdown rules while drinking with colleagues. The Labour leader has come under pressure since footage emerged of him drinking a beer and having curry with colleagues in Durham during campaigning for the Hartlepool by-election in April 2021. At the time,

It has been a “tough night” for the Conservative party, after the loss of some key local councils in London to Labour – but the opposition party has seen mixed results outside the capital. The Tories have lost Wandsworth, Margaret Thatcher’s “favourite council”, Westminster and Barnet to Labour. Boris Johnson faces losing his Commons majority

The Conservatives face losing their Commons majority if local election results are replicated at a general election, according to a Sky News projection. Analysis suggests that it would mean a hung parliament with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Tories remaining the largest party at Westminster but falling 48 seats short of an overall majority. The projection

An MP under investigation for allegedly watching pornography in the Commons said he opened a file by mistake but would step down if he is found guilty. Conservative MP Neil Parish referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards on Friday, days after two female Tory MPs said they witnessed him watching pornography on his