Politics

Junior doctors will go on strike for the second time ever in March – if they vote for industrial action in a ballot beginning next week. The British Medical Association (BMA) has today set the potential strike action for March ahead of a ballot starting on Monday. Junior doctors – any doctor below consultant level

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) could accept a pay rise of around 10% to end its ongoing dispute with the government, its chief has said. The union had initially demanded an increase of up to 19% to cover soaring inflation and falls in real term wages over the past decade. But union boss Pat

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris appears to have had his Twitter profile hacked – just weeks after Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s profile picture changed to an image of Elon Musk without her knowledge. A series of offensive messages, including racial slurs, were posted from the cabinet minister’s account from around 7am this morning – the

Sir Keir Starmer will promise to end “sticking plaster politics” when he delivers his first speech of the new year. The Labour leader will claim on Thursday that “a short-term mindset” dominates Westminster under the Conservatives, pointing in particular to its handling of the crisis in the NHS. He will promise “a completely new way

Rishi Sunak must “step up to the plate” and allow ministers to get around the table to negotiate with union leaders, the boss of the TUC has said – as he accused the PM of using the independent pay review bodies as a “human shield”. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak told Sky News the PM

Rishi Sunak’s flagship policy to stop Albanian migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats is unlikely to reduce overall illegal immigration because of “infinite” demand, Home Office sources have warned. The prime minister’s five-point-plan, launched last month, specifically targets people arriving from Albania after the Eastern European country accounted for more than a third

New Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar – seen as a bogeyman by many unionists in Northern Ireland – has said he “understands” and “gets” the concerns that community has about the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol he helped to design.  Mr Varadkar, who began his second term as Taoiseach in mid-December, told reporters at a briefing

UK Border Force officers have joined patrols on French beaches for the first time in a bid to stem the flow of migrants crossing the Channel. The first joint patrols are believed to have taken place just before Christmas after months of negotiations between UK and French officials. The collaboration aims to give UK officers

The Archbishop of Canterbury has kicked off 2023 by putting the Church of England on a collision course with Rishi Sunak’s government. Justin Welby is a canny political operator who is almost certainly the most political archbishop of Canterbury in recent years. And there have been a few of those. During 2022 he led an

The major events which come define a year, or even a decade, are seldom predicted. Nobody foresaw the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001 which then swamped the leaderships of Tony Blair and George W Bush. This time a year ago most experts doubted that Russia would go ahead with the vicious attack on

Ian Blackford watched the election of his successor Stephen Flynn via zoom, surrounded by his closest allies. And by boxes. His imminent forced departure from the two-floor, wood-panelled suite of offices afforded to the leader of parliament’s third party, was a source of sadness and frustration. Nicola Sturgeon had made her own unhappiness clear to

Rishi Sunak has warned the UK’s problems will not “go away” in 2023 after a “tough” 12 months. In his New Year message, the prime minister promised the “very best of Britain” will be on display in the coming months as he pledged continuing support for Ukraine. And he also predicted King Charles’s coronation on

Tory and Labour MPs who caused trouble for Boris Johnson have been recognised in the first New Year Honours list to be published since he left No 10. Conservative Julian Lewis, chairman of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC), and Labour MP Chris Bryant, who chairs the commons standards committee, have both received knighthoods.

Tony Blair wanted Vladimir Putin to have a seat at the international “top table” during his time as prime minister, according to newly released official files. The Labour PM from 1997 to 2007 believed the Russian president was at heart a “Russian patriot” and it was important to encourage him to adopt Western values, the

The cost of living crisis will deepen next year as people continue to be hit with falling pay, higher taxes and soaring bills, a think tank has warned. Households face a cost of living “groundhog year” with disposable incomes plummeting even further than in 2022 and living standards getting “far worse” before they improve, according

Government targets to curb the number of smokers in England by 2030 will not be met, according to new analysis. In 2019 ministers set out an ambition for England to become “smoke-free” by 2030 – which is said to be achieved when adult smoking rates fall to 5% or less. But Cancer Research UK said