British Politics

Comedian Mitch Benn hands out his alternative awards of another week in politics… REPEAT OFFENDER OF THE WEEK Rishi Sunak, who followed up last week’s excruciating “I’m just a guy, standing in front of a country, commending my budget to the House” video with an equally bizarre sequel in which he was interviewed by a […]

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe says her case has been a “failure of diplomacy and campaigning” ahead of her return to court in Iran. Richard Ratcliffe said it would take “a long time” for his wife to recover from the psychological trauma of her ordeal, but that continuing media coverage had “kept her a bit […]

A Tory minister has raised eyebrows after claiming “British wind” will soon fuel homes across the UK. Paul Scully, a minister at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), made the announcement during an interview on Sky News, in which he promoted a new government pledge of £95million in funding for offshore wind farms in […]

Schools, colleges and universities can now apply for funding to allow students to study and work abroad as part of the post-Brexit replacement of the Erasmus exchange programme. The £110 million Turing scheme, which will fund global exchanges for about 35,000 UK students from September, will target disadvantaged students and those from under-represented areas. But […]

Amazon and Serco are among a number of businesses to receive government help with New Year Honours nominations even though they are at the centre of a row over Covid contracts, a major Whitehall leak has revealed. The Sun reports officials asked the companies to nominate staff members for the award in a list they accidentally leaked. The […]

The Tories have backed their London mayoral candidate after he was accused of politicising the disappearance of Sarah Everard. Business minister Paul Scully said Shaun Bailey can “absolutely” still run for office despite facing criticism for comments around the case of the missing 33-year-old. The mayoral candidate had said his wife and daughter “have to […]

The SNP are no longer on course to win a majority in this May’s Holyrood elections, new polling has suggested. The survey, conducted by Sevanta ComRes on behalf of The Scotsman, found Scots being put off the SNP over its leader’s botched handling of sexual harassment complaints against Alex Salmond. This is the first major poll […]

Sir Keir Starmer will target the government’s controversial 1% pay rise for NHS workers during the campaign for the May elections, declaring “a vote for Labour is a vote to support our nurses”. The Labour leader is to launch the party’s campaign for the local and mayoral elections by demanding key workers are given “a […]

Three of the government’s LGBT advisers have resigned as they issued sharp criticism of equalities ministers Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch. Jayne Ozanne accused Boris Johnson’s government of creating a “hostile environment” for LGBT people and criticised the two ministers as being “ignorant” on key issues. The government’s Equalities Office also confirmed that it had […]

Stormont’s agriculture minister has said special cricket pitch soil can be freely moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland under Brexit rules. The clay-containing material known as loam can be obtained from counties in England to help give the ball a predictable bounce on the pitch. Northern Ireland Protocol bureaucracy has caused problems for suppliers […]

The Northern Ireland secretary has failed to explain the legal grounds for scrapping Brexit customs checks in the Irish Sea. Brandon Lewis was asked to clarify which part of the Northern Ireland Protocol would allow the UK to renege on its committment on customs checks – amid claims it could be breaching international law. “Is it […]

Boris Johnson has refused to apologise for falsely accusing Labour of having voted against a pay rise for NHS staff. Johnson claimed during Prime Minister’s Questions, where he came under fire for a 1% pay rise for nurses, that Labour had opposed earlier government plans to give health workers a 2.1% hike. Johnson told MPs the […]

The failure to properly investigate allegations against ministers risks damaging public confidence, Boris Johnson’s former independent adviser on the ministerial code has warned. Sir Alex Allan said there was now a case for giving the adviser greater powers to initiate their own inquiries into complaints against members of the government. Sir Alex quit the post […]

The Welsh secretary has accused the first minister Mark Drakeford of being “fixated on politics” after said that Boris Johnson “really, really is awful”. Simon Hart said that he hopes the first minister now “slightly regrets” a clip of him saying the prime minister “really, really is awful”, which emerged during an S4C film. The Welsh […]

Sir Keir Starmer has questioned whether Boris Johnson thinks NHS workers or Dominic Cummings are more deserving of a pay rise. In this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir asked: “Who does the prime minister think deserves a pay rise more, an NHS nurse or Dominic Cummings?” The prime minister replied: “As I told (Daisy […]

A senior European Union diplomat has been summoned to the Foreign Office in a row over coronavirus vaccine exports. Nicole Mannion, deputy ambassador of the EU to the UK, attended the meeting on Wednesday morning after European Council president Charles Michel accused Britain and the US of imposing bans on the movement of jabs. Foreign […]

Greenpeace has condemned Boris Johnson’s plans to ditch taxes on short-distance domestic flights after pledging to help the environment. A review today reveals No 10 is considering cutting Air Passenger Duty on domestic flights under plans to boost connectivity within the UK. Johnson said he wanted to “build back better” after the coronavirus crisis in a […]

Dominic Raab has written to the European Council president after he claimed the UK imposed an “outright ban” on coronavirus vaccine exports. Charles Michel accused Britain and the US of imposing bans on the movement of jabs as he used a newsletter to hit back at criticisms of the bloc’s vaccine rollout. The foreign secretary […]

There is “no clear evidence” the £22 billion Test and Trace scheme contributed to a reduction in coronavirus infection levels, a cross-party group of MPs have said. Meg Hillier, the chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) behind a critical report, urged the government to justify the “staggering investment of taxpayers’ money”. The MPs […]

Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said that he does not believe the Budget passes the “Bevan test”. Speaking in the House of Commons the former Labour leader said: “120,000 people have died from Covid. Our way of life has been dramatically restricted. Our key workers have stepped up and put themselves in harm’s way for […]

Downing Street has declined to distance itself from a minister’s claim that the Duke of Sussex is “blowing up his family” after revealing that Boris Johnson watched the explosive interview. No 10 continued on Tuesday to refuse to comment on the allegations of racism within the royal family made by Harry and Meghan, claims that […]

NHS staff in England were expecting to receive a higher pay rise than the 1% proposed by the government, the head of the health service has confirmed. Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS in England, confirmed that plans set out previously had budgeted for NHS pay to increase by 2.1% this year. It […]

UK businesses and exporters have urged Lord David Frost to scrap No 10’s abrasive approach to dealing with Brussels and seek to build a more mutually beneficial trade relationship. Trade groups warned a breakdown in trade would inflict long-lasting damage on the UK economy. James Withers, chief executive of the industry group Scotland Food and Drink, […]

A senior government minister has said he hopes NHS staff will be given an “appropriate” pay rise this year. The government is facing a furious outcry after calling for a headline increase of just 1% in its submission last week to the NHS pay review body. Ministers have argued that it was all that could […]

Matt Hancock’s department has signed off on two Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) deals worth more than £90million with a state-backed Chinese firm listed at a hotel room in Beijing, new documents show. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) struck two lucrative contracts during the first coronavirus wave with Beijing Union Glory Investment Co Ltd, […]

Labour is calling for regular military-style “germ games” to ensure ministers are properly prepared for any future pandemics. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth says the country was “vulnerable and exposed” when coronavirus hit last year because the government had ignored warnings and weakened its defences. In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research, […]

The UK government has unilaterally extended some grace periods associated with the NI Protocol in a bid to avoid a cliff-edge plunge into extra paperwork. The protocol is a post-Brexit arrangement designed to keep the Irish border open by ensuring Northern Ireland continues to follow the EU’s trading rules. The DUP has vowed to overthrow […]

A junior health minister has been sent to defend the government’s recommendation to give NHS workers in England a 1% pay rise. Health secretary Matt Hancock dodged questions from MPs after Labour called for a response at the despatch box. Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth had demanded Hancock appear in the House of Commons to make […]