Politics

Talks to avert the nursing strike on Thursday have failed after the union leader behind the action accused the health secretary of refusing to discuss pay. Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said on Monday night: “I needed to come out of this meeting with something serious to show nurses why

The government’s top responsibility is to tackle inflation, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has told Sky News as thousands of public sector workers go on strike. Mr Hunt said the strikes, which are taking place every day until the end of the year, are a “symptom of the fact that people are very worried that their pay

Conservative MPs have called for lower taxes and a new Tory campaign group has been launched in a fresh double headache for Rishi Sunak. On Sunday morning, a letter from 40 Tory MPs was sent to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt saying taxes are too high and offering suggestions of how to lower them by £7bn. At

The government is “dangerous, reprehensible and irresponsible” for failing to sit down with nurses to try and avert a strike, Labour has said. NHS nurses are due to strike next Thursday and on 20 December in a dispute over pay and patient safety. It is the first time the Royal College of Nursing has staged

The UK will look to form long-lasting partnerships with Latin American, Asian and African countries, the foreign secretary will say next week. James Cleverly will give his first major speech at the Foreign Office on Monday, and will call for alignment with increasingly influential countries in the three regions. This includes states that are not

A formal request for troops to drive ambulances during strike action could be made within days, Sky News understands. After a formal request known as a MACA – or Military Assistance to the Civil Authorities – is made to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), training to drive ambulances would begin. A decision from the Department

She is no stranger to the spotlight. A book deal, regular television appearances and a prolific presence on Instagram, all part of a carefully crafted public image that helped Michelle Mone secure a peerage in 2015. Yet, Baroness Mone – or “Lady M” as she often refers to herself – has been keeping a low

Troops have been training at Heathrow and Gatwick airports for passport checking roles ahead of Border Force staff going on strike over Christmas. The Ministry of Defence confirmed to Sky News armed forces personnel arrived at London’s two main airports earlier this week. The PCS union announced on Wednesday that Border Force officers will go

The UK is joining forces with Italy and Japan to develop a next-generation fighter jet that will be operational by 2035, Rishi Sunak will announce today. The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) is a new partnership between the three countries and should lead to the creation of hundreds of high-skills jobs in the UK over

People should “think carefully” about going on holiday over the Christmas period after Border Force workers became the latest to announce they would go on strike, the home secretary has said. Suella Braverman has urged people to rethink flying around the festive period as she warned of “undeniable, serious disruption for the many thousands who

Tory MP Julian Knight has had the whip removed after a complaint about him was made to the Metropolitan Police. A spokesperson for the Conservative chief whip, Simon Hart, said the complaint was made to the force on Wednesday evening and he removed the whip “with immediate effect”. It means Mr Knight, who is also

Former health secretary Matt Hancock has said he will not stand for the Conservatives in the next general election. In a letter to the prime minister, Mr Hancock said: “For my part, I want to do things differently. I have discovered a whole new world of possibilities which I am excited to explore – new

The government has U-turned over its ban on onshore wind by saying turbines could be installed if the projects gain the support of local communities. The Department for Levelling Up has launched a consultation to explore how councils can “demonstrate local support and respond to views of their communities when considering onshore wind development in

More than 10,000 ambulance workers across nine trusts in England and Wales will strike on 21 and 28 December, the GMB union has confirmed. The GMB, Unison and Unite unions are coordinating industrial action in a row over pay. Ambulance workers from the GMB union, including paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff,

Michael Gove has watered down the government’s target to build 300,000 homes every year following an angry backlash from his own party’s MPs. A Commons vote on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill had to be dropped last month after 60 Conservatives signed an amendment calling for the mandatory target to be scrapped. But the

Sir Keir Starmer will promise the “biggest ever transfer of power from Westminster to the British people”, as the Labour leader launches a report recommending handing new economic, taxation and law-making powers to mayors and devolved governments. The report on the UK’s future, carried out by former prime minister Gordon Brown, also recommends sweeping constitutional

The home secretary has pledged to do “whatever it takes” to deal with the “small boats problem” in the Channel. Writing a foreword to a report by the centre-right Centre for Policy Studies think tank – which has called for new laws stopping migrants who enter illegally from ever settling in the UK – Suella

Albanians should be barred from claiming asylum in the UK, the Immigration Minister has said. Robert Jenrick said such individuals should be “excluded from the right to claim asylum” as they are coming from a “demonstrably safe” country. Current levels of migration into the UK were “unsustainable,” he said. His comments came as the Home

As a winter of strike action looms, and a growing list of unions threaten to grind the county to a halt, the PM is under pressure. Rishi Sunak is attempting a more constructive, less combative, approach with the unions. A government source said the meetings involving Mick Lynch and the transport secretary and rail minister

Matt Hancock has said he was warned the COVID pandemic could kill hundreds of thousands of people in the UK two months before the country was put into lockdown and claims ministers “did not really believe it”. The former health secretary said the chief medical officer for England, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, informed him in