Politics

Ian Blackford, the former leader of the SNP in Westminster, has told Sky News he will be standing down at the next election. Mr Blackford was replaced as leader of the independence-backing party’s Commons delegation at the end of last year by Stephen Flynn. The outgoing MP said he had been thinking “long and hard”

The government is still being “too slow” to recover taxpayer money lost to fraud and error over the pandemic, MPs have said. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also said Whitehall needs a “step change” in its approach to risk in order to prevent a similar “panic response” in the future. In a wide-ranging report,

Conservative MP Bob Stewart has been charged with public order offences relating to a “racially aggravated” incident in December last year. Police say the 73-year-old has been charged with using threatening or abusive words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour and that the offence was racially aggravated. He was also charged with using threatening or abusive

The majority of the British public thinks Rishi Sunak is doing a bad job in delivering on his five priorities, a new poll has found. Almost half a year after the prime minister set out his five key aims – including halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists, reducing the national debt and

Hundreds of migrants have so far been returned to Albania under the government’s “gold-standard” deal with the country, says immigration minister Robert Jenrick. That’s despite more than 12,000 Albanian people crossing the Channel on small boats last year, according to official figures. Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge, Mr Jenrick initially said “thousands” of illegal migrants

A sitting Labour MP has filed a complaint against Geraint Davies after he was suspended over allegations of inappropriate behaviour, Sky News understands. It means Labour has now received two formal complaints after a woman also contacted the party yesterday. The 63-year-old has been “administratively suspended” from the party pending an investigation into reports of

Labour has blocked a sitting mayor from standing for a new role in the North East in a move that has reawakened divisions in the party. Jamie Driscoll, the serving North of Tyne mayor, revealed on social media that he had been “barred” from running as the Labour candidate to contest the North East mayoralty

In the wake of the Geraint Davies allegations, Labour has said it will look again at its processes for dealing with these types of complaints. In a (very long) email to all staff, the party’s general secretary, David Evans, went through all the resources already available – and the list was long. In doing so,

Boris Johnson is giving all the WhatsApp messages and diaries available to him directly to the COVID inquiry, Sky News understands. The former prime minister had originally given the information to the Cabinet Office, but it had refused to comply with the inquiry’s order to hand over all the material in unredacted form. Friday’s move

The government has been accused of an attempted “cover-up” as it bids to block the COVID inquiry’s request for Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks. Bereaved families and opposition parties criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after the Cabinet Office revealed it was taking the unusual step of bringing a judicial review of Baroness Hallett’s

A group of high-profile Labour politicians have banded together to campaign for “urgent” reform of the UK’s democracy. Former prime minister Gordon Brown, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham are among those who have joined the Alliance for Radical Democratic Change. They will launch the push at an event in

All of Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and notebooks that have been requested by the COVID inquiry have been handed to the Cabinet Office in “full and in unredacted form”, his spokesman has said. The spokesman said the former prime minister wanted the Cabinet Office to “urgently” disclose the material to the inquiry. A statement from

The government will ask people to put fewer items into recycling bins as it plans to cut back on contamination from improperly prepared or non-recyclable objects, according to reports. It is part of a plan to tackle “wishcycling” – where people put items they hope are recyclable into the relevant container, but their good intention

Families on benefits will be able to claim hundreds of pounds more in childcare payments from the end of June, the government has announced. People on Universal Credit will see their maximum childcare payments rise by nearly 50% from 28 June as the government tries to get more people back into work. Parents eligible for

Rishi Sunak has been accused of being “slippery” in the row over whether the government will hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and other documents to the COVID inquiry. Labour’s shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said the prime minister should “comply with the inquiry and do it today”. Mr Streeting told broadcasters: “I think the

Rishi Sunak has said a new government crackdown on vape marketing will stop the “unacceptable” targeting of children and young people.  Ministers have pledged to close a loophole that allows shops to offer free samples of vapes to children in England as concerns over the proportion of youngsters trying e-cigarettes mounts. It comes days after

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick is visiting Mediterranean countries this week as part of a government focus on tackling illegal migration.  He will be visiting Algeria, Tunisia and Italy, before heading to France. The Times reports the Italian government is expecting 400,000 people to enter the country from North Africa this year – in forecasts prepared

New oil and gas developments in the North Sea would be blocked under a Labour government, it has been reported. Granting new licenses for oil and gas in the North Sea “will do nothing to cut bills”, according to a Labour source. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the block in Scotland

A Tory minister and three other MPs claimed hundreds of pounds of driving fines on expenses – despite it being against the rules.  They are now being contacted and asked to repay the money. Amanda Solloway, a minister in the energy department who used to serve under Suella Braverman at the Home Office, was one

A Scottish minister has accused the UK government of “sabotage” after it ruled Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) could only go ahead if glass bottles were removed from the environmental initiative.  Lorna Slater, who is co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said ministers at Holyrood would have to “look very seriously at where this leaves the