Politics

Boris Johnson has warned against “taking our foot off the throat of the beast” of coronavirus as he raised the prospect of a New Year lockdown. England is due to exit its second national lockdown next Wednesday and, speaking at a Downing Street news conference on Thursday, the prime minister said the action had “prevented

The chancellor has defended cutting the foreign aid budget, telling Sky News: “This is about trying to focus on the priorities that the British people have at a time of enormous difficulty.” Speaking to Kay Burley, Rishi Sunak said the COVID-19 pandemic means he has had to make “difficult choices, of which aid was one

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has told MPs that the UK economy is forecast to have suffered the largest fall in output for more than 300 years as a result of the coronavirus crisis. As he set out his one-year spending review to the House of Commons, Mr Sunak declared the “economic emergency” from the pandemic “has

Rishi Sunak has for months been handing out billions and billions of public money. Be it via the furlough scheme, track and trace, VAT cuts or business support, No 11 has borrowed more during this Covid-19 crisis than anytime since the Second World War to just to keep the economy on ice. On Wednesday, for

Households across the UK will be able to form a “Christmas bubble” with two other households during a five-day window over the festive period, it has been announced. Between 23 to 27 December, people will be able to meet with those two other households in their bubble – but only in a private home, a

Boris Johnson has suggested the “vast majority” of people most vulnerable to coronavirus could be vaccinated against the disease by Easter. The prime minister, speaking at a Downing Street news conference, said this “would make a very substantial change” to how the UK is able to manage COVID-19. With Oxford University’s vaccine shown to be

Boris Johnson does not think MPs should get a pay rise, Downing Street has said. “MPs’ salaries are obviously decided by an independent body but given the circumstances, the PM doesn’t believe MPs should be receiving a pay rise,” the prime minister’s spokesman told reporters. The intervention comes as Britons continue to feel the effects

Boris Johnson was probably right to kick off a much needed conversation about devolution of power last week, even if the manner of doing so – saying it had been a disaster in Scotland – was for many Tories the kind of quip the head-exploding emoji 🤯 was invented for. In fairness to the PM,

Rishi Sunak has insisted there will be no return to austerity in his spending review next week. Faced with the job of balancing the UK’s books in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic the chancellor told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “You will not see austerity next week. “What you will see is an increase

Boris Johnson is poised to announce up to a week of freedom from COVID-19 restrictions at Christmas – but tough rules will remain in force in England after the national lockdown ends on 2 December. The aim – subject to agreement from the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – is for a UK-wide

Boris Johnson attempted to water down the official inquiry that found Home Secretary Priti Patel bullied staff, Whitehall sources have confirmed to Sky News. It follows claims the prime minister tried and failed to convince his standards ministerial adviser Sir Alex Allan to tone down his finding that her behaviour amounted to bullying as he

The Cabinet Office report into whether or not Priti Patel bullied her civil servants has been sitting on the prime minister’s desk for months. Since March, political reporters have asked about the progress of the inquiry into the home secretary on a near-daily basis, only to be told by Boris Johnson’s official spokesman: “I don’t

Priti Patel has praised “brilliant civil servants” in her first televised comments since being forced to apologise over bullying allegations. The home secretary said she was “sorry that my behaviour has upset people”, adding that she had “never intentionally set out to upset anyone”. She continued: “I work with thousands of brilliant civil servants every

Labour is demanding the publication of the full inquiry findings into allegations of bullying by Priti Patel after she was found to have broken the ministerial code. Sources with knowledge of the situation told Sky News the home secretary is unlikely to be sacked and will not be issued with a formal warning. However, Boris

Boris Johnson has vowed to “restore Britain’s position as the foremost naval power in Europe” as part of a multi-billion pound boost to defence spending. The prime minister, speaking as he set out a new multi-year funding package to the House of Commons, warned the “international situation is now more perilous and intensely competitive than

Allies of Jeremy Corbyn have reacted with fury at the decision to block him from returning as a Labour MP. The former Labour leader was told on Wednesday morning that he won’t have the party’s whip restored, despite his suspension from Labour being lifted by a disciplinary panel. It means that Mr Corbyn will still