Politics

Boris Johnson has said the new coronavirus tiers “have a sunset of 3 February” as he tries to fight off a backlash from Tory MPs. The prime minister has angered some of his party with a plan to impose stringent restrictions across much of England when the national lockdown ends on Wednesday. In a letter

COVID-19 restrictions are likely to be in force until Easter, Sky News has learned, as Boris Johnson heads for a Commons showdown with rebel Tory MPs over the new tiers. Senior sources have revealed that even if large numbers of COVID-19 vaccinations begin at the end of January it will be Easter – on 4

Boris Johnson has sought to fight off a growing backlash among Conservative MPs about the new coronavirus tiers, declaring that the “vast majority” of the British public support the measures. “I totally understand why people feel frustrated, I get that,” the prime minister said about the COVID-19 restrictions. Search your area on this map to

Boris Johnson is facing a revolt from his own MPs after it emerged that 99% of England’s population will fall under the two toughest coronavirus tiers when lockdown ends next week. Several senior Conservatives have urged the government to publish analysis of the impact that these tightened rules will have on reducing infection rates –

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