Politics

Rishi Sunak has cancelled plans to hold a second round of Boris Johnson’s £3.6bn towns fund in a move that could anger Tory MPs. Sky News can reveal that the £300m set aside for a further competition will instead be transferred to the levelling up fund, which has been criticised for slow delivery. The towns

A defiant Boris Johnson vowed “I’ll be back” as he called on the Tories to deliver on Brexit and the promises of the 2019 manifesto. The former prime minister hinted at a political comeback on the day he formally resigned as an MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. In a message in the Daily Express

Rishi Sunak has launched a broadside at Boris Johnson after the former prime minister resigned from the House of Commons last week. Mr Johnson was left furious after some of his political allies – Nadine Dorries, Alok Sharma and Nigel Adams – were not given the places in the House of Lords he nominated them

Sky News political correspondent Rob Powell and chief political correspondent Jon Craig discuss the fallout from Boris Johnson’s decision to step down as an MP. He’s forced one of three by-elections after close Conservative colleagues Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams also decided to leave the Commons immediately. Rob and Jon consider how Rishi Sunak and

Rishi Sunak and the Tory high command are nervously waiting to see if more Boris Johnson allies quit as MPs – amid fears that the feud is set to plunge the party into civil war. Johnson supporters claim two more MPs are on “resignation watch” after Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams joined the former prime

Boris Johnson ally Nigel Adams has said he is standing down as an MP with “immediate effect”, triggering another by-election. The move, which follows the former prime minister’s resignation on Friday, will leave Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing a third by-election – this time in Mr Adams’s Selby and Ainsty constituency. He previously said he

Plans for a giant cruise ship to house asylum seekers near Liverpool have been scrapped after being declined by port officials. A government source has told Sky News the vessel was due to house 500 men seeking asylum in Birkenhead, but that will no longer happen following objections from Peel Ports. Politics Live: Boris Johnson’s

After his landslide general election victory in 2019, Boris Johnson looked unassailable as prime minister.  His majority of 80 marked the end of the parliamentary logjam over Brexit, the Labour Party had collapsed into bouts of infighting and critics within his own party were silenced. The Conservatives had elected him leader months earlier, not because

Labour has called on Rishi Sunak to stop Boris Johnson from handing honours to a “carousel of cronies” following reports the list could be published today. Labour’s Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock accused Rishi Sunak of having “caved in” to his predecessor’s demands to appease factions within the Conservative Party. He said some of the

Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden have agreed a new partnership to bolster economic security in response to the growing threat of China. Brushing off his failure to deliver on the Tory manifesto promise to land a full-fat free trade deal with the US, the prime minister and US president announced the Atlantic Declaration during a

Former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas is stepping down at the next general election. In a letter sent to her Brighton Pavilion constituents, Ms Lucas said it had been the “privilege of my life to serve this extraordinary constituency and community”. She said the “threats to our precious planet” had become “ever more urgent”, but

Rishi Sunak will take personal responsibility if inflation in the UK has not halved by the end of the year. The prime minister was speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby during a visit to Washington DC where he will meet President Biden. Mr Sunak has made a significant amount of noise about his

The prime minister said Russia would have hit “new lows” if it turns out that Moscow is responsible for what he described as the largest attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the start of the war, following the destruction of a critical dam. Speaking en route to Washington, Rishi Sunak told reporters that the

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

A Labour mayor has accused his party of being “anti-democratic” after he was blocked from running in an election for a new position. Jamie Driscoll, mayor of the North of Tyne, refused to condemn controversial remarks from director Ken Loach about Jews, Israel and the Holocaust. He has been prevented by Labour HQ from standing

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