Politics

The Scottish people must be allowed to have “the democratic choice they have voted for”, with another referendum on independence, Scotland’s First Minister has said. Nicola Sturgeon made the comments ahead of laying out what she has called the “route map” to another independence vote, even if Westminster tries to block the plans. Under the

Boris Johnson has said he is not worried Conservative MPs could be plotting to remove him while he is out of the UK at the G7 summit. Speaking to broadcasters from Germany where the world leaders are convening, the prime minister said doubts over his premiership were “settled” after he survived a confidence vote “a

A move by the British government to rip up post-Brexit trade arrangements in Northern Ireland is “illegal and unrealistic”, the European Union’s ambassador to the UK has warned. Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Joao Vale de Almeida argued steps being taken by Boris Johnson’s administration over the Northern Ireland Protocol were

Boris Johnson is capable of winning the next general election, a cabinet colleague has insisted, as he said the ability to look forward is a good thing after the prime minister said he was eyeing a third term. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis threw his support behind the Tory leader, amid fresh criticism and plots

Two by-election defeats, the resignation of his party chairman with the parting shot that Conservative grassroots “deserve better than this”, and his colleagues back home openly discussing how to change party rules for another confidence vote – none of it seems to bother Boris Johnson. As MPs back in the UK talked – publicly and

In the end, it wasn’t a double blow, but a triple one. Boris Johnson lost not just two by-elections but his party chairman too, who became the first of his cabinet to publicly express misgivings over the PM’s leadership, saying volunteers and staffers “deserve better than this”. The by-election losses he was reluctantly expecting, but

Conservative Party Chairman Oliver Dowden this morning resigned declaring “somebody must take responsibility”. Yet it is far from clear that blame for the two overnight defeats in two very different sets of electoral circumstances could ever be laid at the door of the mild-mannered Mr Dowden. The voters of Tiverton were not demanding his head

Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden has resigned after the party slumped to two by-election defeats. Mr Dowden said in a letter to Boris Johnson that the defeats were “the latest in a run of very poor results” and added: “We cannot carry on with business as usual.” He is the first Cabinet minister to fall

Boris Johnson has suffered a double blow as the Tories crashed to two by-election defeats in his first test at the ballot box since a bruising no-confidence vote. The Conservatives saw a majority of 24,000, or 40.6%, in the Devon seat of Tiverton and Honiton evaporate – a record reverse for the party – as

The source of the polio virus discovered in a London sewage works could be narrowed down to a house or street, a health minister has said. Lord Kamall said relevant agencies were now using “world-beating” tools to work out how to “go along the pipe” to locate where the virus came from. “In theory, it

Voters will head to the polls this morning in two crucial by-elections that are seen as a key test for Boris Johnson’s leadership. In Wakefield, a former industrial area in West Yorkshire, the election was triggered by the resignation of Imran Ahmad Khan. Wakefield was one of the so-called Red Wall seats won by the

Sir Keir Starmer has attacked the prime minister for failing to hold meetings with unions to stop the national rail strike this week. During Prime Minister’s Questions, the Labour leader said Boris Johnson had not “held a conversation or lifted a finger” to stop the industrial action that brought the network to a halt on

The deputy prime minister wants to introduce a Bill of Rights to ignore European Court of Human Rights judgments blocking removal flights to Rwanda. Dominic Raab is introducing the proposed legislation, which would also increase deportations of foreign criminals, to parliament on Wednesday after the court in Strasbourg disputed the government’s heavily-criticised policy of sending

Commuters must be prepared to “stay the course” in the face of the “unnecessary aggravation” caused by rail strikes, Boris Johnson has warned. He made the remarks came at the start of a Cabinet meeting on the first day of walk-outs across the network that are the biggest for three decades, leaving millions facing inconvenience.

Labour has launched a proposal to grant a cross-party select committee emergency powers if Boris Johnson fails to appoint a new ethics adviser. It comes after the prime minister’s ethics adviser Lord Geidt quit last week, saying he “could not be party to advising on potential law breaking”. Mr Johnson‘s official spokesperson has said there

Downing Street has confirmed it was in conversation with The Times around the time the newspaper dropped a report claiming Boris Johnson tried to appoint his now wife to a government role when he was foreign secretary. In a story published on Saturday morning, the paper reported that Mr Johnson attempted to hire Carrie Johnson,

Tearing up post-Brexit trade arrangements in Northern Ireland would inflict “economic vandalism”, the Irish prime minister has warned. Micheal Martin said it would be a “very serious situation” if the UK Government pressed ahead with legislation to ditch key parts the Northern Ireland Protocol. He insisted the European Union wanted to avoid a trade war

Cabinet minister Grant Shapps has revealed  he predicted to within one vote the scale of the recent revolt by Tory MPs against Boris Johnson. In doing do so, the transport secretary was far more accurate in forecasting the scale of opposition against the prime minister’s leadership than the Conservative whips. The backroom fixers were taken

The RMT’s decision to proceed with train strikes next week will “punish millions of people”, the transport secretary has said. Grant Shapps warned the UK is “now on the cusp of major disruption which will cause misery for people right across the country”. He also claimed the RMT union had been repeatedly urged not to

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the world against letting “Ukraine-fatigue” set in as he returned from a surprise visit to the war-torn country. Mr Johnson had pulled out of a planned appearance at conference of northern Tories on Friday in order to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Asked if he had timed the visit