Politics

The government’s flagship online safety bill is “massively letting down” women and girls by failing to include specific protections to prevent misogynistic abuse, a senior Tory peer has said. Baroness Nicky Morgan has joined campaigners and celebrities in calling for a violence against women and girls (VAWG) code of practice to be included in the

Second homeowners could require planning permission if they want to use their property as a holiday let in a tourist hotspot in England, under new government proposals intended to prioritise “desperate” local families looking for a home. A consultation has been launched on the plan, along with the suggestion of a registration scheme for holiday

So many different versions of what might have been in Belfast were considered in the planning for today’s visit by the US president.  If Stormont had been up and running, President Joe Biden would have gone there with Rishi Sunak. With power sharing still deadlocked, at one point they considered making a pointed trip to

A civil rights group has threatened legal action against the home secretary for refusing to implement all of the recommendations of the independent Windrush inquiry. The Black Equity Organisation (BEO) is seeking a judicial review following Suella Braverman’s announcement in January to disregard three of the 30 reforms the government agreed to implement. The scrapped

Plans to house 500 asylum seekers in a giant vessel in Portland, Dorset, are to be announced by the government today, Sky News understands. The Home Office has been “exploring” the idea of using vessels to house asylum seekers to reduce the £6m daily bill of using hotels. The government is expected to confirm today

Teachers in England will be going on strike again after turning down a government pay offer. Members of the National Education Union are now set to walk out on 27 April and 2 May. Anjum Peerbacos is among those who rejected the pay offer – and here she explains why… As a north London teacher of

A leaked government report has revealed some teachers are working 60 hours or more a week, with a quarter considering leaving the profession altogether because of the “unacceptable” high workload. The findings from a survey conducted by the Department for Education (DfE), and seen by Sky News, said eight in ten were working upwards of

Whisper it, but could the Brexit and Boris bandwagons be gradually trundling off into the distance? Let’s start with Brexit. The most politically important development of a packed Westminster Wednesday was arguably what didn’t happen. Boris Johnson, the European Research Group of Brexiteers and the DUP all objected to the government’s EU deal and yet

Boris Johnson is to submit a dossier of evidence ahead of an interrogation by MPs over whether he lied to Parliament about the partygate scandal. The former prime minister will provide information in his defence as he prepares for a lengthy televised grilling by the Commons privileges committee on Wednesday, where he faces a fight

Irish flags, poetry and a performance from Niall Horan… this White House trip was another diplomatic success for Ireland “Every American president is a little bit Irish on St Patrick’s Day…but some are more Irish than others.” Those words, spoken by Leo Varadkar, were greeted by raucous cheers in the White House, and a broad

Teacher strikes will be paused for two weeks while education unions and the government hold “intensive” talks over pay, workload and conditions. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan will meet with representatives today – with discussions to continue over the weekend until Sunday. The National Education Union (NEU), National Association of Headteachers (NAHT), NASUWT The Teachers’ Union,

Suella Braverman will travel to Rwanda on Friday, Sky News understands, as she seeks to bolster the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to the country if they arrive in the UK on small boats. The controversial policy was announced by Boris Johnson last year, but no one has been flown to the nation yet

After the debacle of Liz Truss’s September mini-budget, with all its mega ramifications, and an autumn statement eight weeks later that performed an about-turn so big that the country’s tax burden hit a 70-year-high, Wednesday’s budget will be all about stability and sticking to the plan. “No big bangs in this budget,” is how one

Rishi Sunak has said there are “no plans” to change a law which prevents the permanent return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece. The sculptures – also known as the Parthenon sculptures or marbles – were controversially removed from one of the world’s most historic monuments in Athens by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early

The BBC’s director general has said bosses are “working very hard” to fix the damage done to the broadcaster following the suspension of Gary Lineker. Tim Davie was speaking after a day when Football Focus and Final Score were taken off the air and Match Of The Day – usually presented by Lineker – was

Evidence strongly suggests it would have been “obvious” to Boris Johnson COVID rules were being breached at Downing Street gatherings he attended, an inquiry into whether he misled parliament has said. MPs on the cross-party Commons Privileges Committee were tasked with investigating whether Mr Johnson misled parliament over partygate allegations after Sir Keir Starmer tabled

Sue Gray has been appointed by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to serve as his chief of staff. The senior civil servant became a household name during the partygate scandal, authoring the report which found “a failure of leadership and judgement” in Number 10 during Boris Johnson’s premiership. Conservative MPs and former cabinet ministers have

Sir Gavin Williamson accused teachers of looking for an “excuse” not to work during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to leaked messages from Matt Hancock published by The Daily Telegraph. In May 2020, as teachers prepared for classrooms to reopen, the then education secretary had messaged Mr Hancock asking for help in securing personal protective equipment

Boris Johnson has said Rishi Sunak’s attempts to renegotiate Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland may create additional problems rather than solve them. Speaking exclusively to Sky’s Mark Austin on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, the former prime minister refused to say he would back any deal negotiated by his

Iran’s most senior diplomat has again been summoned by the Foreign Office after a UK-based Iranian broadcaster was forced to move out of the UK due to assassination threats from Tehran. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in the UK, Mehdi Hosseini Matin, “to make clear we will not tolerate