Politics

The prime minister has admitted “we don’t know… how strong our fortifications now are” against a fresh COVID wave – while the chief medical officer has warned of a “leaky wall” of vaccine defence. Speaking at a Downing Street news conference on Monday – as people in England saw lockdown restrictions eased slightly – Boris

Boris Johnson says he hopes Monday’s relaxation of COVID rules in England kickstarts a “Great British summer of sport” – but has urged people to remain cautious and to stick to the rules. From Monday, groups of up to six, or two households, are able to reunite outdoors, and outdoor sport can resume. The stay

Summer holidays abroad are unlikely to be allowed until August it has been reported, as a cabinet minister said a traffic light system was being considered to enable overseas trips. Speaking to Sky News, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said there were “challenges around international travel” in the face of rising COVID-19 infection rates in Europe,

A second Westminster MP has defected from the SNP to join Alex Salmond’s new Scottish independence party. Neale Hanvey, MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, has followed Kenny MacAskill MP in making the switch to the Alba Party. He will stand as a candidate in the mid Scotland and Fife seat at the 6 May Scottish

Nicola Sturgeon has warned now is “not the time to gamble” with Scotland’s future as she said there were “significant questions” about Alex Salmond’s return to politics. The SNP leader made her comments after her predecessor and former mentor confirmed he would be standing for his newly-formed Alba Party as a regional list candidate in

Boris Johnson has told Joe Biden that global vaccine access will be vital for beating COVID-19, as the leaders agreed combatting climate change will be a key part of “building back better from the pandemic”. The prime minister and US president spoke on the phone on Friday afternoon, where they discussed the rollout of jabs,

Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond has re-entered frontline politics to become the leader of the new pro-independence Alba Party. The party was registered with the Electoral Commission in January by retired TV producer Laurie Flynn. Alba Party will stand candidates in the Scottish Parliament elections on 6 May. Mr Salmond said in a statement:

China has sanctioned individuals and organisations in the UK who it said “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” – days after the British government imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for alleged gross human rights violations in Xinjiang.   Members of parliament including former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat,

MPs have voted to extend the government’s emergency COVID legislation for another six months. Despite opposition from some Tory backbenchers, the Coronavirus Act 2020 was passed by 484 votes to 76, a majority of 408. MPs also approved the regulations underpinning the steps to ease restrictions from 29 March as laid out in Boris Johnson’s

Boris Johnson is facing a Tory rebellion on lockdown rules in the Commons, 24 hours after telling drinkers they may need a COVID vaccine or negative test to go to the pub. MPs are due to vote on extending emergency COVID legislation for six months until 25 September and current lockdown rules into July, but

For a prime minister who likes to give little away when he appears before the Liaison Committee, Boris Johnson dropped a number of news bombs. The biggest bombshell was that pub landlords may be given the power to bar anyone without a COVID jab in future, in a massive blow to the nations under-40s who

Boris Johnson is facing a tough end-of-term interrogation on COVID-19 by senior MPs after claiming the UK is making progress a year after his first lockdown. As well as his last Prime Minister’s Questions clash with Sir Keir Starmer for three weeks, he is facing questions from MPs who chair all-party select committees. His double

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed the “courage, discipline and patience of the nation” one year after he first announced a lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at a Downing Street news conference, he said: “We suffered so many losses.” And he said we have at times been “fighting in the dark” against a

A horrific year of nearly 150,000 COVID-related deaths is being marked with sombre ceremonies across the UK on the anniversary of Boris Johnson’s first lockdown. A year since his dramatic “stay at home” TV address to the nation, the prime minister claims the past year has been one of the most difficult in the country’s

Nicola Sturgeon did not breach the ministerial code over her handling of the Alex Salmond harassment case, an independent investigation has found. The finding was made by James Hamilton, the Scottish government’s independent adviser on ministerial standards. He had been asked to examine whether Scotland’s first minister “attempted to influence the conduct of the investigation” into

Boris Johnson is expected to urge EU leaders this week to dismiss any proposals to block coronavirus vaccine exports to the UK. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted over the weekend that the EU has the power to “forbid” exports of coronavirus doses, adding: “That is the message to AstraZeneca.” And EU Commissioner Mairead