Politics

The UK has planned to ensure second COVID jabs are administered on time, according to the culture minister, who also confirmed a batch of the Moderna vaccine was due to arrive in the coming weeks. It comes as England is set to relax lockdown restrictions with the rule of six returning from Monday, and the

Nicola Sturgeon has warned now is “not the time to gamble” with Scotland’s future as she said there were “significant questions” about Alex Salmond’s return to politics. The SNP leader made her comments after her predecessor and former mentor confirmed he would be standing for his newly-formed Alba Party as a regional list candidate in

England’s route out of lockdown remains on schedule with the prime minister declaring there is nothing to dissuade him from “continuing along our roadmap to freedom”. Speaking to the virtual Conservative Party spring conference, Boris Johnson said he was looking forward to going to the barbers, for a pint in a pub and to “unlocking

Boris Johnson has told Joe Biden that global vaccine access will be vital for beating COVID-19, as the leaders agreed combatting climate change will be a key part of “building back better from the pandemic”. The prime minister and US president spoke on the phone on Friday afternoon, where they discussed the rollout of jabs,

Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond has re-entered frontline politics to become the leader of the new pro-independence Alba Party. The party was registered with the Electoral Commission in January by retired TV producer Laurie Flynn. Alba Party will stand candidates in the Scottish Parliament elections on 6 May. Mr Salmond said in a statement:

China has sanctioned individuals and organisations in the UK who it said “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” – days after the British government imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for alleged gross human rights violations in Xinjiang.   Members of parliament including former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat,

Boris Johnson has said “there is going to be a role” for COVID vaccine certification but suggested it might only be implemented once every adult in the UK has been offered a vaccine by the end of July. The prime minister sought to quell anger from Conservative MPs and businesses over the possibility of Britons

There are 650 MPs in parliament. Each one has a personal mandate to represent their constituency and is under a heavy whip from their party leaders. But only a few tens of thousands of people will actually vote for each MP by name. In the upcoming elections across Britain on 6 May, voters will directly

Boris Johnson has hit back at EU plans for further vaccine export controls as he said companies may reconsider investing in nations that impose trade blockades. The prime minister told the cross-party Liaison Committee he does not think blockades of “either vaccines or of medicines or ingredients for vaccines are sensible”. And in a further

Boris Johnson is facing a tough end-of-term interrogation on COVID-19 by senior MPs after claiming the UK is making progress a year after his first lockdown. As well as his last Prime Minister’s Questions clash with Sir Keir Starmer for three weeks, he is facing questions from MPs who chair all-party select committees. His double

Nicola Sturgeon has survived a vote of no confidence in her leadership after a Holyrood committee found she misled parliament. The Scottish Conservatives tabled the motion of no confidence, but it was always expected to fail after the Scottish Greens said they would not support such a vote. It comes after a cross-party committee of

A horrific year of nearly 150,000 COVID-related deaths is being marked with sombre ceremonies across the UK on the anniversary of Boris Johnson’s first lockdown. A year since his dramatic “stay at home” TV address to the nation, the prime minister claims the past year has been one of the most difficult in the country’s

Nicola Sturgeon did not breach the ministerial code over her handling of the Alex Salmond harassment case, an independent investigation has found. The finding was made by James Hamilton, the Scottish government’s independent adviser on ministerial standards. He had been asked to examine whether Scotland’s first minister “attempted to influence the conduct of the investigation” into

This Thursday, three dozen satellites will be fired into space from a launch station in a desolate corner of eastern Russia, less than a hundred miles from the northern Chinese border. Each a little bigger than a fridge, they are attached to a Russian rocket which will travel 750 miles up into what is known

Boris Johnson is facing a Tory revolt over a move to extend emergency coronavirus laws, with one leading lockdown critic vowing to oppose the “excessive and disproportionate” powers. Conservative former minister Steve Baker told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme he expected to vote “squarely against” the continuation of the “authoritarian” COVID-19 restrictions. His

The elections watchdog is looking into whether Conservative Party donations were used to fund part of the renovation of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat. The Electoral Commission said it is trying to figure out whether any of the funds relating to the renovation should have been declared under the law on party political donations. Responding