Politics

The UK has summoned the French ambassador after a British scallop trawler was detained – as a row over fishing rights continues to escalate. A government spokesman condemned “unjustified” threats from France over further action amid the ongoing dispute. Brexit minister Lord Frost chaired a meeting on Thursday to consider London’s response. “The proposed French

Rishi Sunak has said his intent as chancellor is to “lower taxes for people” and insisted that was the fairest way of coming out of the pandemic. The chancellor also said those with “the broadest shoulders” will be paying the majority of taxes as he said the Universal Credit changes he announced yesterday would help

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has set out a budget for a “new economy” after the COVID crisis with a £150bn increase in government spending – but he also warned of “challenging” months ahead due to the continuing pandemic and rising inflation. In his statement to the House of Commons, Mr Sunak promised “the largest increase this

A Treasury minister has not joined the traditional pre-budget photo in Downing Street due to his agoraphobia, he has revealed. Simon Clarke, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is a senior member of Chancellor Rishi Sunak‘s team and has helped prepare Wednesday’s budget and spending review. He would have been expected to line up outside

This is, technically speaking, Rishi Sunak’s third budget. But it might better be thought of as his first. After all, the first two of them, in March of 2020 and 2021, were so embroiled in all things COVID that they might be better thought of as emergency budgets. Neither gave much thought to the longer-term

Ministers should resign for briefing out details of the budget in advance of the chancellor’s address to MPs on Wednesday, the Speaker has suggested. Sir Lindsay Hoyle made his feelings known in the Commons after a weekend of announcements revealing the contents of Rishi Sunak‘s budget. “At one time, ministers did the right thing if

Millions of nurses, teachers and members of the armed forces will receive a pay rise next April as Rishi Sunak unfreezes public sector pay in the budget. In his second pay giveaway in 24 hours, after announcing a rise in the national living wage, the chancellor confirmed he is ending a one-year COVID freeze imposed

The chancellor is set to increase the national living wage to £9.50 in Wednesday’s budget, Sky News has been told. It will rise from the current living wage of £8.91 per hour for those aged 23 and over, which the government says will give full-time workers an extra £1,000 a year. The national living wage

When Rishi Sunak stands up to deliver his budget and three-year spending review on Wednesday it will be his first real opportunity to set the tenor of his chancellorship unencumbered from the immediate crisis of COVID – although the fall-out of this pandemic will undoubtedly loom large. It will make a change for a chancellor

Rishi Sunak has refused to be drawn on the future of the eastern leg of HS2 just three days before announcing his spending plans in the autumn Budget later this week. Deflecting a question on the matter on Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday, the chancellor also failed to confirm whether a new Northern Powerhouse Rail

England’s regional mayors have welcomed a £6.9bn spending boost for local transport – but they are also being warned of a “massive sting in the tail” to come from Chancellor Rishi Sunak. At next week’s budget and spending review, Mr Sunak is expected to announce £5.7bn will be put into transport settlements for city regions,

A former British spy who wrote a dossier on Donald Trump said he once spent hours with then home secretary Theresa May, briefing her on the Russia threat. Christopher Steele also revealed he had been asked by a UK official to review sensitive government documents on Russia just days before his dossier, which alleged collusion

Boris Johnson has said there is “absolutely nothing to indicate” the country will enter a new lockdown this winter, although he added the government would “do whatever we have to do to protect the public”. On a visit to a vaccination centre in west London on Friday, the prime minister repeated his call for those

The government will not change the six-month gap between second doses of the coronavirus vaccine and the booster jab unless the UK’s vaccine advisory body recommends it, a health minister has said. Care minister Gillian Keegan told Kay Burley on Sky News that ministers will “do whatever” the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)

Conservative Party fundraising bosses are embroiled in a row over claims they offered dinner with the housing secretary to property developers for £4,000, Sky News can reveal. Michael Gove refused to be sat with developers at an event at the party’s conference in Manchester earlier this month following a furious behind the scenes row. He

A health minister has denied there is a “plan C” to control COVID-19 by restricting household gatherings in England at Christmas if hospital admissions get worse. Edward Argar told Sky News it is “not something I’m aware of” after reports claimed Whitehall officials are considering not allowing members of different households to meet in each