Politics

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

More than 115,000 asylum seekers will be trapped in “permanent limbo” by the end of the year as a result of the government’s flagship Rwanda plan, according to a detailed study by the Refugee Council. The effect of the Rwanda plan will push the already struggling UK asylum system into “meltdown”, the council’s chief executive

The Rwanda bill that ministers hope will curb the number of small boats crossing the Channel “raises major concerns”, a leading human rights official has said as he called for key clauses to be reversed. Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, said he was “concerned” about the new law and he

Rishi Sunak warned the world is now “more volatile and dangerous” than at any time since the Cold War, as the prime minister embarked on a trip to Poland and Germany to discuss the threat of expansionist Russia and refocus the world’s eyes back on to Ukraine. Speaking to journalists on the flight over to

Police say they are reviewing “information” about Conservative MP Mark Menzies after Labour asked for an investigation into claims he misused party funds. Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds wrote to Lancashire Police asking for an inquiry after The Times reported he had made a late-night phone call to an aide asking for funds to pay

New defeats for the government’s Rwanda bill in the House of Lords have set up a parliamentary showdown on Wednesday – forcing MPs to consider changes to Rishi Sunak’s stop the boats plan. Downing Street wants to get the bill – which declares Rwanda a safe country and stops appeals from asylum seekers being sent

“Significant progress” has been made towards a post-Brexit deal for Gibraltar, Spain, the EU and the UK have said. In a joint statement following talks in Brussels, the parties said they had agreed “general political lines” on the territory’s future status and said a final deal could be reached within weeks. Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood has said the West is in “denial” about Vladimir Putin, who “is now more powerful than Stalin”. The senior Tory MP said he agreed with his colleague James Heappey that the UK should consider sending troops to Ukraine to give training to the armed forces in their war against Russia.

An energy minister has announced he is standing down from his government role to focus on local issues in a further blow to Rishi Sunak. Graham Stuart, the MP for Beverly and Holderness, said he would “fully support” the prime minister from the backbenches. Mr Stuart became minister of state for climate in September 2022

The health secretary has insisted the government “will not criminalise” homeless people, after a large backlash to its proposals for a new law. Ministers are seeking to replace the 200-year-old Vagrancy Act from 1824 – which makes rough sleeping illegal – with its new Criminal Justice Bill, which the government says will instead target “nuisance

Oliver Dowden has accused Israel of making “big mistakes” during the conflict in Gaza and insisted the UK government is “holding them to a very high standard”. Speaking to Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on the six month anniversary of the 7 October attacks, the deputy prime minister insisted the UK was not giving Benjamin Netanyahu’s

MP safety has long been a concern in Westminster but the issue is back under the spotlight after conservative MP William Wragg was this week caught up in a “phishing” scandal. The parliament security team insist it takes online safety and security extremely seriously, but MPs are facing cyber attacks that have become more sophisticated

Police in Northern Ireland have said they received a complaint that led to the arrest of former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson over allegations of historical sexual offences in early March. Donaldson resigned over the allegations on Friday. It is understood he will be “strenuously contesting” all charges against him. The Police Service of Northern

The Archbishop of Canterbury will use his Easter sermon to say the church is not party political after facing criticism over his high-profile condemnation of the government’s controversial Rwanda deportation scheme. Justin Welby will tell the congregation on Sunday that Anglicans are “all different” in their politics, as he urged “love-in-action” to help those caught

A former ethics adviser to Boris Johnson broke the rules in the House of Lords by “assisting an outside organisation in influencing” government officials at the Ministry of Defence, a watchdog has ruled. A report from the Lords Commissioner for Standards said Lord Geidt – who advised the former prime minister between April 2021 until