Politics

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has highlighted the importance of engaging with the Taliban as he acknowledged the need “to face up to the new reality in Afghanistan”. While not recognising the militant group as the government in Kabul, the cabinet minister pointed to the necessity of having “a direct line of communication” to discuss a

The prime minister is expected to announce a rise in national insurance payments to fund social care, despite this being a breach of the 2019 Tory manifesto. Reports in The Times and The Daily Telegraph say the plans could be revealed as soon as next week when parliament returns from its summer recess. Both newspapers

One of the many hundreds of Afghans who was eligible for evacuation to Britain but was unable to board a flight has told of his family’s harrowing two weeks on the run from the Taliban. Ahmad – not his real name, and whose location cannot be revealed – is a former Afghan government official who

The education secretary has insisted children must return to a “normal pre-pandemic” experience in schools, despite the risk of an increase in COVID cases. Gavin Williamson said testing would be key to guarding against rising infection rates, but refused to outline what the government’s “contingency plan” for other potential measures might involve. Experts are predicting

A leaked Foreign Office report warned government ministers on 22 July that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would lead to ‘rapid Taliban advances’, a senior Conservative MP has claimed. Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat, told Sky News that the department’s own principle risk report on Afghanistan suggested the country’s cities

The Foreign Secretary will be questioned by MPs later on how the government intends to deal with the fall-out from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Parliament is still on its summer break, but an emergency session of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee will take evidence from Dominic Raab this afternoon. Here are some of the

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has rejected claims a British request may have contributed to the risk of a terror attack at Kabul airport – as senior Conservative MPs hit out at a “reprehensible” blame game over last week’s suicide bombing. On Thursday, 13 American troops, two British men and at least 169 Afghans were killed

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has admitted it will be a “challenge” for British nationals left in Afghanistan to now find a route to the UK. Speaking to Sky News, Mr Raab said the number of British nationals who had not been taken as part of the now-ended UK evacuation effort was in the “low hundreds”.

Ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are calling on the UK government to keep the £20 uplift to Universal Credit in place beyond the current October deadline. In a letter to Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey, they call for the policy to be made permanent and describe the change – which is due

The UK’s evacuation from Afghanistan has been branded a “humiliation” by a senior Tory MP and ex-soldier, who told Sky News there were a “litany of concerns” in the government’s handling of it that need to be addressed. Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Defence Select Committee, said the Foreign Office no longer had the capability

Football fans in England are set to be allowed to stand at games before the end of the current season, in a reversal of the 30-year rule requiring all-seater stadiums. Many clubs in the Premier League – including Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United – have recently installed “safe standing” areas, with rail seating,

Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the “heroic efforts” of British troops and officials involved in evacuation efforts in Kabul – as the government unveiled plans to help Afghans settle in the UK. The prime minister has written to the armed forces community to thank them for their role in Operation Pitting, which has seen

Business groups have been left “frustrated” after the business secretary rejected requests to loosen Brexit immigration rules to ease the supply chain crisis, telling companies to hire UK-based workers instead. Businesses across multiple sectors are struggling to meet customer demand as a consequence of labour shortages, particularly in haulage where there is a shortfall of

Boris Johnson has pledged to “shift heaven and earth” to get more people out of Afghanistan after the 31 August deadline. Speaking to reporters, the prime minister shared his “great sense of regret” that more individuals could not be airlifted out of Kabul during what he described as “the first phase” of the evacuation process.

The UK government’s policy on allowing the extraction of new oil and gas from the North Sea is “downright dangerous”, the co-leader of the Scottish Green Party has told Sky News. The MSP’s comments are an escalation in an increasingly heated row over drilling for fossil fuels in UK waters, symbolised by the controversial Cambo

This week Sky News has been identifying the gaps in Britain’s border defences. As the number of small boats crossing the Channel breaks new records and European countries brace for a new wave of people fleeing Afghanistan, the issue is rising up the public consciousness once more. Ministers are meant to be able now to

A Conservative donor paid more than £52,000 towards Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat refurbishment, the party’s accounts have revealed. The figures show the Conservative Party’s central office provided a “bridging loan” of £52,802 to cover the renovations after being invoiced by the Cabinet Office in June last year. They reveal the party was then “reimbursed

A charity has raised its concerns about the looming end of the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit, describing it as the “biggest overnight cut in benefits since the Second World War”.  According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 413 out of a total of 632 parliamentary constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland will see more than

Dominic Raab has admitted that with the “benefit of hindsight” he would have come back from holiday earlier amid the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Speaking to Sky News in his first TV interview since the crisis unfolded, the foreign secretary said it is “nonsense” to say he was “lounging around on the beach all day”

Leftwinger Sharon Graham is on course to pull off a surprise victory in the race to succeed Len McCluskey as the general secretary of the Unite trade union. Ms Graham, 52, is expected to become the union’s first female leader beating frontrunner Steve Turner, who was backed by Mr McCluskey, and moderate candidate Gerard Coyne.