Politics

Government “incompetence” is to blame for the shortage of flu vaccines, the shadow business minister has told Sky News. Speaking on Sky News Breakfast, Seema Malhotra said the government needs to “get a grip” on the “supply chain crisis” that is hitting the country. On Saturday, the largest provider of flu vaccines to the UK,

The government is reportedly determined to push ahead with COVID-19 vaccines for 12 to 15-year-olds, despite advisers recommending against it. The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation said on Friday that, while it would widen the vaccination programme to include more children in that age group with health conditions, it was not recommending the widespread

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

Dominic Raab’s select committee grilling served many functions. It allowed some MPs to performatively beat up the foreign secretary over his holiday for the purposes of Twitter and Facebook clicks. It allowed others to press individual and tragic cases about Afghans left behind to try to get them out. It poured over whether it was

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

Dominic Raab has said he is “not confident with any precision” about how many people who are entitled to come to the UK remain trapped in Afghanistan. Facing questions on the UK’s withdrawal by members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the foreign secretary says his best estimate of the number of UK nationals and their

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 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

Dominic Raab is to hold a series of diplomatic meetings this week focusing on future engagement with the Taliban after the final UK troops pulled out of Afghanistan on Saturday. The foreign secretary will host talks with other officials in a bid to find an international consensus on how to deal with Afghanistan’s new regime

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

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

Green politicians are poised to join a government for the first time in the UK after Scottish Greens members voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of a power-sharing deal with the SNP. In an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) involving a two-hour debate, the majority of members voted to support the deal, which will see co-leaders Patrick Harvie

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.

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