Politics

A charity has raised its concerns about the looming end of the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit, describing it as the “biggest overnight cut in benefits since the Second World War”.  According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 413 out of a total of 632 parliamentary constituencies in England, Wales and Scotland will see more than

Dominic Raab has admitted that with the “benefit of hindsight” he would have come back from holiday earlier amid the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Speaking to Sky News in his first TV interview since the crisis unfolded, the foreign secretary said it is “nonsense” to say he was “lounging around on the beach all day”

Britain is actively working to keep an airport open in Afghanistan after the final withdrawal of troops, Sky News understands. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said after Tuesday’s G7 summit that the number one priority for the West in coming months was to ensure safe passage for people who want to leave Afghanistan after 31 August

The Scottish government says it will hold an independent public inquiry into how it has handled the COVID pandemic by the end of the year, following pressure from bereaved families. The government has said the inquiry will be established by the end of this year to “scrutinise decisions taken in the course of this pandemic,

Boris Johnson is urging President Joe Biden and other world leaders to stand by the Afghan people and not walk away, amid fears that the Taliban is plotting vicious reprisals. The prime minister is chairing a video-link summit of G7 leaders and calling for a boost in international support for refugees and humanitarian aid after

The UK’s evacuation effort in Afghanistan is “down to hours now, not weeks”, the defence secretary has said. Ben Wallace conceded the UK’s involvement will end when the US leaves the country, which is expected to be on 31 August. “The prime minister is, obviously at the G7, going to try and raise the prospect

US and UK troops should have stayed in Afghanistan “to see it through”, Tony Blair has said, as he warned the decision to withdraw personnel could lead to a “security threat” at home. The former Labour prime minister said while he has “enormous respect” for US President Joe Biden, the number of individuals deployed in

Dominic Raab is facing new calls to quit after claims that he defied a call to return from his luxury holiday in Crete to deal with the Afghanistan crisis and stayed for two more days. It is reported that the beleaguered foreign secretary was told by a senior Downing Street official to return to London

The minister for Afghanistan was also on holiday last week as Kabul fell, Sky News has learnt. Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, the minister of state directly responsible for South Asia, was on leave until Sunday, the day the Taliban marched into the Afghan capital. The Conservative peer has been in his post for four

Boris Johnson says he “absolutely” has confidence in Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab – and insisted the government is working “virtually round the clock” to help evacuate people from Afghanistan. Speaking after a meeting of the government’s emergency COBRA committee on Friday afternoon, Mr Johnson dismissed criticism of Mr Raab’s summer holiday as Afghanistan’s capital Kabul

Nicola Sturgeon has described a new power-sharing agreement between the SNP and the Scottish Greens as “groundbreaking”. Announcing the new pact during a news briefing at Bute House in Edinburgh, Scotland’s first minister said the move would help to create “a greener, fairer, independent Scotland”. Ms Sturgeon described the partnership as “groundbreaking in both Scottish

Dominic Raab has said he did not call Afghanistan’s foreign minister when he was on holiday as he was prioritising securing Kabul airport so that evacuation flights could depart. Amid mounting criticism over the speed of his response to the Taliban’s takeover, the foreign secretary said in a statement on Friday the government has been

Ministers”blindsided themselves” by ignoring a warning eight months ago about the implications of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.  A report submitted to the government in January laid out how the US pull-out risked undermining the Afghan government and allowing the country to descend into civil war. But the Conservative chair of the International Relations

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been criticised for being too busy to speak with Afghanistan’s foreign minister as the country descended into chaos. Mr Raab has been accused of failing to ask Hanif Atmar for urgent assistance in evacuating Afghan interpreters who had worked for UK military personnel during the 20-year conflict in the country.

Ministers are continuing their scramble for a co-ordinated international response to the crisis in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s dramatic takeover. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday night resumed his series of calls with world leaders following the fall of the central Asian country to the extremist group. He spoke with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi,

A Conservative MP who served in Afghanistan received a round of applause after delivering an emotional speech in an emergency Commons debate on the crisis there. Tom Tugendhat told MPs the past week has seen him, like many veterans, “struggle through anger, grief and rage” as events in Afghanistan unfolded. Live updates as MPs debate