The EU is expected to outline its response to UK demands to alter post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland following this summer’s tense “sausage war” between the two sides. European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic is set to hold a news conference on Wednesday afternoon in which he will deliver Brussels’ verdict on UK proposals for the
Politics
Brexit minister Lord Frost has accused the EU of being an organisation “that doesn’t always look like” it wants the UK to succeed as he demanded changes to post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland. In a speech in Lisbon, the cabinet minister called on Brussels to help “tackle the fundamental issues” with the Northern Ireland Protocol
“Keen to start with an apology, minister?” “Well, no…” And thus began the government’s response this morning to the first major inquiry into the lessons the UK should learn from COVID, which is damning on several fronts. Cabinet office minister Steve Barclay, who was not at the centre of decision-making when the pandemic struck and
Thousands of lives were lost due to delays and mistakes made at the start of the COVID pandemic by both ministers and their scientific advisers according to a highly critical report by MPs. A pandemic plan based too much on influenza and “groupthink” among public health officials meant early opportunities to delay the spread of
A minister has denied that the business secretary lied when he said there were talks ongoing in government about help for manufacturers and energy firms. Appearing on Sky News, Home Office minister Damian Hinds was asked if Kwasi Kwarteng had lied when he made the claim about his team being in discussions with the Treasury,
As energy companies fold and businesses cry out for government help over rising gas prices, there is an altogether different row going on inside Whitehall. In an unprecedented public slap down today, Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, was accused of lying on TV, before the same Treasury source revealed the meetings he said he was
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has told Sky News that the price cap on consumers’ energy bills “will not be moved” this winter and he is “convinced” that the UK won’t suffer gas shortages in the coming months. Speaking to the Trevor Phillips On Sunday show, Mr Kwarteng said he was “convinced we will have full
Spiralling gas bills could soar further under government plans to impose new charges to pay for eco-friendly heating, it has been reported. The move to introduce a levy on the fossil fuel is contained in a new strategy due to be published ahead of next month’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, according to The Times.
Funding for more than 9.5 million pothole repairs this year has been cut from council budgets, new analysis has found. The Local Government Association (LGA) said overall capital funding from the Department for Transport to councils in England for local road maintenance in 2021/22 is £1.39bn, down from £1.78bn the previous year. That £399m reduction
Conservative MP and former cabinet minister James Brokenshire has died at the age of 53, his family has said. The MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup announced in August that his lung cancer had “progressed” and that he would be beginning a new line of treatment. Mr Brokenshire stepped down as security minister in July
Grant Shapps has said he wants returning international travellers to be able to use lateral flow tests instead of costly PCR tests by the half-term holiday. Speaking to Sky News, the transport secretary said ministers “anticipate” the change coming into force before the October break which will make family trips abroad “much easier, much less
A leading fuel industry body has said recovery from the supply crisis is not happening fast enough – with London, South East and East England still suffering from low fuel levels, Sky News understands. The South East is struggling the most, with fuel stock levels remaining below 20% as the area continues to be hit
Business leaders and think tanks have described Boris Johnson’s party conference speech as “economically illiterate”. The prime minister’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference on Wednesday came as many businesses are struggling with supply chain issues and a lack of workers. A shortage of HGV drivers has resulted in a shortage of fuel in some
Boris Johnson has branded levelling up “the greatest project that any government can embark on” in his closing speech at the Conservative Party’s annual conference. In his keynote address marking the end of the four-day event, the prime minister pledged that his top team will “get on with our job of uniting and levelling up
Boris Johnson will close his party’s conference in a rousing finale in which he will accuse his Tory predecessors of “drift and dither” and lacking the guts to tackle big problems. Bringing the conference to a barnstorming climax with his speech to the adoring Tory faithful on Wednesday, he will a promise a “long overdue”
Boris Johnson has said he cannot guarantee that targets to improve rape prosecution and conviction rates set out in the government’s Rape Review will be met. Plans set out in the report, which was commissioned in 2019 and published in June of this year, said the volume of rape cases going to court should return