Politics

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

This Thursday, three dozen satellites will be fired into space from a launch station in a desolate corner of eastern Russia, less than a hundred miles from the northern Chinese border. Each a little bigger than a fridge, they are attached to a Russian rocket which will travel 750 miles up into what is known

Refugees arriving in the UK will be given the right to remain permanently, under a new system the home secretary has described as “fair but firm”. Priti Patel will announce that those fleeing war or persecution who come through the “safe and legal resettlement route” will be given indefinite leave to remain. Currently, resettled refugees

More than 60 MPs have signed a letter to the home secretary calling for the easing of COVID-19 restrictions to allow protests to go ahead. The letter to Priti Patel, organised by campaigns group Liberty and Big Brother Watch, warns that allowing the police to criminalise people for protesting “is not acceptable and is arguably