Politics

Nicola Sturgeon has set the date for a proposed “consultative referendum” next year on Scottish independence. To cheers and applause in the devolved parliament in Holyrood, the first minister said legislation will lay out plans for a vote to take place on 19 October 2023. It will ask the question: “Should Scotland be an independent

The Scottish people must be allowed to have “the democratic choice they have voted for”, with another referendum on independence, Scotland’s First Minister has said. Nicola Sturgeon made the comments ahead of laying out what she has called the “route map” to another independence vote, even if Westminster tries to block the plans. Under the

Boris Johnson has said he is not worried Conservative MPs could be plotting to remove him while he is out of the UK at the G7 summit. Speaking to broadcasters from Germany where the world leaders are convening, the prime minister said doubts over his premiership were “settled” after he survived a confidence vote “a

A move by the British government to rip up post-Brexit trade arrangements in Northern Ireland is “illegal and unrealistic”, the European Union’s ambassador to the UK has warned. Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Joao Vale de Almeida argued steps being taken by Boris Johnson’s administration over the Northern Ireland Protocol were

Boris Johnson is capable of winning the next general election, a cabinet colleague has insisted, as he said the ability to look forward is a good thing after the prime minister said he was eyeing a third term. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis threw his support behind the Tory leader, amid fresh criticism and plots

Boris Johnson wants to serve a third term as prime minister despite a bruising week in which the Conservatives suffered two by-election defeats. Speaking to reporters on the final day of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, Mr Johnson said the government was “embarked on a colossal project to unite and level

Boris Johnson has said voters are fed up of hearing about things he had “stuffed up” as he played down a bruising double by-election defeat as a “safety valve”. The prime minister, who has faced a barrage of criticism over lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street and over his own conduct, argued people had not been

In the end, it wasn’t a double blow, but a triple one. Boris Johnson lost not just two by-elections but his party chairman too, who became the first of his cabinet to publicly express misgivings over the PM’s leadership, saying volunteers and staffers “deserve better than this”. The by-election losses he was reluctantly expecting, but

Boris Johnson has acknowledged that the government’s defeat in two by-elections were not “brilliant results” – but insisted he was not worried about Conservative MPs plotting to replace him while he’s abroad. The prime minister was speaking at a press conference in Rwanda hours after the Liberal Democrats overturned the Tories’ 24,000 majority to win

Boris Johnson has suffered a double blow as the Tories crashed to two by-election defeats in his first test at the ballot box since a bruising no-confidence vote. The Conservatives saw a majority of 24,000, or 40.6%, in the Devon seat of Tiverton and Honiton evaporate – a record reverse for the party – as

The source of the polio virus discovered in a London sewage works could be narrowed down to a house or street, a health minister has said. Lord Kamall said relevant agencies were now using “world-beating” tools to work out how to “go along the pipe” to locate where the virus came from. “In theory, it

Voters will head to the polls this morning in two crucial by-elections that are seen as a key test for Boris Johnson’s leadership. In Wakefield, a former industrial area in West Yorkshire, the election was triggered by the resignation of Imran Ahmad Khan. Wakefield was one of the so-called Red Wall seats won by the

Sir Keir Starmer has attacked the prime minister for failing to hold meetings with unions to stop the national rail strike this week. During Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labour leader said Boris Johnson had not “held a conversation or lifted a finger” to stop the industrial action that brought the network to a halt on

The deputy prime minister wants to introduce a Bill of Rights to ignore European Court of Human Rights judgments blocking removal flights to Rwanda. Dominic Raab is introducing the proposed legislation, which would also increase deportations of foreign criminals, to parliament on Wednesday after the court in Strasbourg disputed the government’s heavily-criticised policy of sending

Commuters must be prepared to “stay the course” in the face of the “unnecessary aggravation” caused by rail strikes, Boris Johnson has warned. He made the remarks came at the start of a Cabinet meeting on the first day of walk-outs across the network that are the biggest for three decades, leaving millions facing inconvenience.

Downing Street has confirmed it was in conversation with The Times around the time the newspaper dropped a report claiming Boris Johnson tried to appoint his now wife to a government role when he was foreign secretary. In a story published on Saturday morning, the paper reported that Mr Johnson attempted to hire Carrie Johnson,