Politics

This week the leaders were selling their visions to voters as they launched their manifestos, and Sunak and Starmer went head to head in Grimbsy at the Sky News live election special The Battle For Number 10. Watch their journeys in the latest week in our animated map below. This campaign is being fought on

Police have been “made aware of a potential electoral matter” after multiple general election candidates were registered under the name of a YouTube prankster. Independent candidates under the name Niko Omilana are listed in 11 constituencies across England and Scotland – including Rishi Sunak‘s, Richmond and Northallerton. Omilana appears to have alluded to the move

Politicians should stop tying themselves in knots in promising not to raise taxes, the head of an influential thinktank told Sky News – warning it could lead to something worse. Speaking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show, Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, argued neither of the main parties

Wales’s first minister has lost a confidence vote. Vaughan Gething has only been first minister since March, but in that time he has faced questions over a controversial £200k donation to his leadership campaign from a man convicted of environmental offences. Mr Gething said the donations had been made in line with party protocols and

At 5pm today, Sky News will publish the first YouGov poll-based projection of the campaign. The pollster, which has partnered with Sky News for the election, pioneered the technique to call every seat in Great Britain on the basis of extensive polling. This will allow Sky News to bring you YouGov’s projected winner and the

Diane Abbott has said she will run to be Labour’s candidate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington following speculation she may choose to stand down. Ms Abbott also denied she had been offered a seat in the House of Lords in the event she chose to retire. In a post on social media, Ms Abbott

Sir Keir Starmer’s team knew they would hit a wobble at some point in this campaign and Diane Abbott turned out to be it. After 72 hours of trying to stonewall questions about her future in the Labour Party, the leadership finally crumbled and Sir Keir performed the U-turn: Diane Abbott can stand for the

Diane Abbott is “free” to stand for Labour at the general election, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Labour leader on Friday told reporters: “The whip has obviously been restored to her now and she is free to go forward as a Labour candidate.” The veteran MP’s future appeared in doubt following reports she could

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of trying to purge general election candidates from the left of the Labour Party. Questions remain about whether veteran Corbyn ally Diane Abbott will be barred from standing again, while Labour suspended one candidate and declined to endorse another. Labour’s general election campaign has been overshadowed by the internal

Police will take no further action against Labour’s Angela Rayner after accusations surrounding her living arrangements in 2010. Officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) launched an investigation into the party’s deputy leader earlier this year, after reports suggested she may have lived primarily at her then-husband’s address in Stockport, despite registering to vote under her

Migration has taken centre stage on the first day of the general election campaign, with the prime minister and Labour leader trading blows on the government’s flagship Rwanda policy. Sir Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of never believing in his deportation plan as he kicked off his campaign in Gillingham in Kent, a traditional Conservative

Victims of the infected blood scandal will get £210,000 as an interim compensation payment from as early as this summer, the government has announced. Cabinet minister John Glen told parliament the initial payment will be given to people living with the effects of contaminated blood “within 90 days, starting in the summer”. Infected people who

GB News could face punishment after a programme with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was found to have broken broadcasting rules. Regulator Ofcom said it is “starting the process for consideration of a statutory sanction against GB News” after finding that a “People’s Forum” featuring the prime minister breached broadcasting due impartiality guidelines. In response to

On Thursday, former prime minister Theresa May claimed this election – like every one – would be ultimately fought on the economy. Today, we got a sense of how that battle is going to play out. Jeremy Hunt, with his senior Conservative politician hat on, launched into a blistering attack on Labour, accusing the party

Oh, dear! Rishi Sunak’s Safety of Rwanda Act was supposed to prevent this sort of legal challenge. The ink is barely dry on the act after it became law last month, and the government has already lost its first battle in the courts. Ruling ‘blows claims about Rwanda plan out of water’ – live updates

Wales’s first minister Vaughan Gething has said he is “entirely relaxed” after being accused of misleading the UK COVID Inquiry. Nation.Cymru reported on Tuesday that Mr Gething sent a text message in which he said “I’m deleting the messages in this group”. “They can be captured in an FOI [Freedom of Information request] and I

Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the villagers who Sky News revealed turned him away from his local polling station when he tried to vote without a valid photo ID – under rules he introduced. The former prime minister has said he had attempted to cast his ballot using a magazine sleeve with his name

The pups are at the polls once more as voters turn out for local elections with four-legged friends in tow. London mayor Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya Ahmed were accompanied by their dog Luna as they voted at St Alban’s Church in south London. Image: Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya Ahmed with their

Polls are to open for the local elections across the country, with the added extra of a by-election on the same day. Over 2,600 council seats are up for grabs across 107 councils in England, along with 10 mayoralties in major cities and combined authorities, and 25 London Assembly seats. A total of 37 police

Officers have raided the homes of the first people to be deported to Rwanda. It comes following the recent passing of the Safety of Rwanda Act, which declared the central African nation safe following concerns raised by the Supreme Court last year. A video released by the Home Office showed officers entering homes and bringing