Politics

Official data shows government borrowing in July was above expectations and at its highest since the pandemic. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expected borrowing to be £46.6bn – instead it reached £51.3bn. Our economics and data editor Ed Conway joins Niall Paterson to talk about the unexpected rise in government borrowing and Chancellor Rachel

Labour is pressing ahead with the previous government’s plan to reopen two immigration centres in a bid to achieve the highest rate of removals since 2018. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said detention capacity will be increased with the provision of 290 beds across Campsfield House and Haslar. The former, in Oxfordshire, closed in 2019 while

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed his government will do “everything we can” to preserve jobs at the steelworks in Port Talbot. The prime minister was visiting South Wales, the region where the site is based, to walk around Alltwalis wind farm with the new First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan. The pair have been showcasing

Pensioners are being urged to check if they are eligible for the winter fuel allowance after universal payments were scrapped. Last month Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that the tax free benefit, to help older people with higher heating costs during the colder months, would be limited to those on pension credit. The surprise move was

The Conservatives are demanding an investigation into Labour’s appointment of several senior civil servants since the election, which the Opposition claims may have broken hiring rules. The government says the claims from the Opposition are “untrue”. The appointments include Emily Middleton, formerly of Labour-aligned group Labour Together; and Ian Corfield, who donated to the party,

An emergency plan to avoid overcrowding in jails is expected to be triggered on Monday as more rioters are sentenced, Sky News understands. Operation Early Dawn is a long-standing plan that allows defendants waiting for a court appearance to be kept in police cells until prison space is available. Sky News understands that the operation

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has promised to crack down on people “pushing harmful and hateful beliefs” and “kickstart” a new approach to fighting extremism in the wake of riots that broke out across the UK earlier this month.  The Home Office has commissioned a “rapid sprint” to develop a new approach to countering extremism. The

SNP MSP John Mason been stripped of the party whip following an “utterly abhorrent” social media post about the Israel-Hamas conflict. Mr Mason has been effectively expelled from the party after posting on X: “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many.” The Glasgow Shettleston MSP made the comment

ASLEF’s lead negotiator has denied the union sees the new government as a “soft touch” after announcing fresh strikes two days after train drivers were offered a pay deal. Drivers working for London North Eastern Railway (LNER) – which runs the passenger service on the East Coast main line between London and Edinburgh – will

Thousands of prisoners languishing in prison indefinitely deserve “justice” and should be resentenced as a priority, the UN’s leading torture expert has said. Speaking to Sky News, Alice Jill Edwards described sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) as a “horrific indictment of the British justice system”. PM suffers post-election poll slump – politics latest

Infected blood campaigners have criticised a “derisory and insulting” offer from the government as part of the compensation scheme. The row centres around former pupils at the Lord Mayor’s Treloar’s College, where children with haemophilia were experimented on without their knowledge. Under the recently announced compensation package, victims of the scandal could receive as much

Sir Keir Starmer should have labelled the recent riots in England “racist” earlier than he did, Thangam Debbonaire has said. The former Bristol Central MP said she was “distraught” to see the riots unfold across the UK at the start of this month. Ms Debbonaire, who was shadow culture secretary in Sir Keir’s shadow cabinet

The education secretary has said private schools have themselves to blame for closures – not the government’s VAT policy. Bridget Phillipson said some private schools have failed to balance their books over a number of years as she denied they had closed because the government is making them pay 20% VAT on fees from January.

A funding injection of £13.5m will be given to businesses and workers affected by job losses at Tata Steel, the government will announce. Up to 2,800 jobs at Tata Steel are expected to be axed at the country’s biggest steelworks in Port Talbot as the company moves over to a greener form of steel production

Hundreds of homes built for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham are being sold off by the council at a projected loss of more than £300m, in a situation branded “nothing short of a scandal”. The government is facing pressure to intervene to stop the sale of 755 properties on the Perry Barr Estate to a

Liz Truss has stormed off stage after a banner featuring a lettuce and the words “I crashed the economy” unfurled behind her at an event. The former prime minister was taking questions from an audience in Beccles, Suffolk, as part of her book tour on Tuesday evening when campaign group Led By Donkeys carried out