Politics

Almost 1,000 East of England ambulance workers have voted to strike in a dispute over pay and staffing, the GMB union says. Paramedics, emergency medical technicians, call handlers and other staff are set to walk out in the region. The union said its members voted by an 86% majority for industrial action. The East of

Reshuffle day, and as we watched familiar names slot into slightly less familiar job titles with, let’s be honest, limited short-term real-world consequences, we did learn one big and important thing: That Rishi Sunak has yet more personal priorities. Just to recap for those not quite across the full list: The prime minister regularly tells

Greg Hands has replaced Nadhim Zahawi as Conservative Party chairman and two new departments have been created in Rishi Sunak’s first cabinet reshuffle. Former trade policy minister Mr Hands, MP for Chelsea and Fulham, takes over the role that will involve leading the Tories through the next election, which they are currently set to lose

Liz Truss has said she would never want to be prime minister again but “doesn’t regret” her time in Downing Street. In an interview with The Spectator, the former PM ruled out a future bid at the top job after her tumultuous 44 days in the position last year. Asked whether she would want to

A nursing union leader is calling on the prime minister to intervene on the evening of the biggest NHS walkout in history. Royal College of Nursing’s director for England, Patricia Marquis, has told Sky News that so far there has been no “direct contact” with Rishi Sunak despite four previous strike days. “It’s a cry

The Treasury has signalled there is no new money for defence despite recognising the urgent need to rearm in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine, defence sources have said. At the same time, the sources said a “refresh” of UK defence policy – that was meant to inform the spending plans of Chancellor Jeremy

Grant Shapps has said Liz Truss had the right priorities but failed as she did not try to deal with the “big structural issues” first. The business secretary said he agreed the UK should have a low-tax economy, as the short-lived prime minister advocated, but inflation and debt needed to be dealt with first. He

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab should be suspended while he is investigated over bullying allegations, a former Conservative chairman has said. Mr Raab, who is also the justice secretary, is the subject of an inquiry after several civil servants made complaints, which Jake Berry believes is enough for him to step aside from his ministerial

The prime minister is looking to ban people arriving in the UK via small boats from appealing against deportation, Sky News understands. The potential plans have been described as “wrong, unworkable and costly” by the Refugee Council. Rishi Sunak has made stopping Channel migrant crossings one of his five priorities in office, promising to introduce

MPs have launched an inquiry into “designer dogs” and other types of animal abuse following an increased demand for pets during the pandemic. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee will look into a variety of abuses committed against pets and is calling for experts to submit written evidence now. Puppy farms – high volume

“It’s not who you are but who you know” is a saying often used to explain why those with family connections to successful people seem to have a head start doing well in the next generation. In the US this phenomenon has led Gen Z to coin a new tag “nepo babies” as they list

The first 100 days of Rishi Sunak’s premiership are done – a yardstick that his predecessor Liz Truss never even reached, while Boris Johnson found himself utterly consumed with firefighting a pandemic. Mr Sunak can take some comfort in the fact he’s made it this far without a full-blown leadership crisis or an external global

Labour is demanding the government publishes its promised progress report on “levelling up”, saying there is “no excuse for dodging scrutiny by both parliament and the public”. Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy has written to her government counterpart, Michael Gove, pointing to the pledge he made when launching the levelling up white paper one

Rishi Sunak was told about Dominic Raab’s “unacceptable behaviour” over the summer before he became prime minister and appointed the deputy PM to his cabinet role, a source has alleged to Sky News. The source told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby that Mr Sunak was made aware of Mr Raab’s conduct but the PM

Jeremy Hunt has faced a twin assault on tax cuts and fuel duty from Tory MPs ahead of his Budget in six weeks’ time. The chancellor was confronted at a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee on the same day a grim economic forecast put him under more pressure to cut taxes. Leading the onslaught

The UK officially left the European Union three years ago today, but just when it seemed that Brexit was no longer dominating the British political landscape, it could end up impacting another general election. Targeting disaffected Brexit voters with a new plan to make it work is Reform UK – formerly the Brexit Party –