Politics

Former Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has said her experience of being abused as a child “ruined” her life. The former culture secretary has spoken about how she had been abused by a Church of England vicar when she was just nine years old. In a recent column for the Daily Mail, Ms Dorries said she

Angela Rayner has criticised “scaremongering” over Labour’s reforms to inheritance tax on farms. The deputy prime minister had to defend the government’s changes to the levy in a bruising House of Commons session, as she stood in for Sir Keir Starmer while the prime minister was away at a G20 summit. It came a day

The prime minister marked the 1,000th day of the war in Ukraine tending to global affairs at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro. Over the two days of our trip to Brazil, the PM wanted to talk about “doubling down” on support for Ukraine, opening a “serious and pragmatic” dialogue with President Xi Jinping

Labour is “absolutely not” engaged in a class war, the prime minister has said. Sir Keir Starmer was asked by Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby if the changes to inheritance tax and putting VAT on private school fees shows the new government is looking to wage a “class war” on wealthier people. The prime

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the “vast majority of farmers” will not be affected by changes to Inheritance Tax (IHT) ahead of a protest outside parliament on Tuesday. It follows Chancellor Rachel Reeves announcing a 20% inheritance tax that will apply to farms worth more than £1m from April 2026, where they were previously exempt.

Climate change, the crisis in the Middle East, the continuing war in Ukraine, combating global poverty. All of these are critical issues for Britain and beyond; all of them up for discussions at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro this week, and all of them very much in limbo as the world awaits the

Sir Keir Starmer has said he intends to pursue a “pragmatic” relationship with China when he meets President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit. The prime minister said the size of China’s economy and its membership of the UN security council meant he wanted to have “serious and pragmatic discussions” with the Chinese leader during

The government has indicated the £3 bus fare cap in place until next year may be scrapped beyond that point. Bus fares have been capped at £2 on more than 4,600 routes in England since 1 January 2023, but the government has said that from next year the cap will rise to £3. Speaking to

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes. Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the

A former Conservative MP has said he felt “enormous guilt” when he found out he was the victim of a Westminster honeytrap scandal. William Wragg resigned from the parliamentary party in April after he admitted giving out fellow politicians’ phone numbers to the suspected perpetrator of the sexting scam. He said he felt threatened and

Nigel Farage has announced that he has paid a visit to Clacton following criticism that he does not spend enough time in his constituency. The Reform UK leader shared an image of himself on X alongside the caption: “I would like all my haters to know that I am once again in Clacton living my

Wes Streeting “crossed the line” by opposing assisted dying in public and the argument shouldn’t “come down to resources”, a Labour peer has said. Speaking on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harriet Harman criticised the health secretary for revealing how he is going to vote on the matter when it comes before parliament later

Brexit has “weighed” on the British economy and relations with the EU must be rebuilt, according to the governor of the Bank of England. Andrew Bailey’s comments come in a speech at the City of London’s Mansion House this evening and were widely trailed beforehand. He said although he takes “no position on Brexit per

Pension “mega funds” will be created under government plans to increase infrastructure investment. Reforms could “unlock £80bn” of investment, according to Treasury plans, which say bigger funds can get greater returns. Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to imitate the way large Canadian and Australian pension schemes work. She will give more details about her plans in

Labour MPs who are opposed to legalising assisted dying believe the momentum is swinging behind their side of the campaign, Sky News has learnt. MPs are currently weighing up whether to back a change in the law that would give terminally ill people with six months to live the choice to end their lives. At

NHS league tables revealing failing NHS trusts and cancelled pay rises or dismissal for managers who don’t turn things around are to form part of the government’s plans to improve the health service. Health Secretary Wes Streeting is confirming new measures he hopes will boost failing hospital trusts and encourage successful ones. The changes form

This week in Azerbaijan, we saw Keir Starmer honing the art of delivering different messages to different audiences.  An essential survival skill in politics, it feels like the new backroom team in Number 10 are finding their feet as they attempt to wrestle the challenging political landscape more to their advantage. Politics Live: Starmer’s former

Self-administering drugs to end your own life legally is more compassionate than someone else doing it, the MP proposing assisted dying legislation has said. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was published on Monday and revealed the medicine that will end a patient’s life will need to be self-administered, with doctors not allowed

The prime minister has encouraged companies to start spending money on global climate change as he heads to the COP summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. On the trip to the Caspian coast, Sir Keir spoke to journalists travelling with him. He was asked if the UK – which the government says is struggling financially – would

The defence secretary has insisted Donald Trump is committed to NATO and is right to push other European nations to put more funding into the security alliance. John Healey dismissed suggestions the new US president will pull out of NATO, the military alliance consisting of 30 European countries and the US and Canada, after previous