Politics

Funding for more than 9.5 million pothole repairs this year has been cut from council budgets, new analysis has found. The Local Government Association (LGA) said overall capital funding from the Department for Transport to councils in England for local road maintenance in 2021/22 is £1.39bn, down from £1.78bn the previous year. That £399m reduction

Conservative MP and former cabinet minister James Brokenshire has died at the age of 53, his family has said. The MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup announced in August that his lung cancer had “progressed” and that he would be beginning a new line of treatment. Mr Brokenshire stepped down as security minister in July

A leading fuel industry body has said recovery from the supply crisis is not happening fast enough – with London, South East and East England still suffering from low fuel levels, Sky News understands. The South East is struggling the most, with fuel stock levels remaining below 20% as the area continues to be hit

Business leaders and think tanks have described Boris Johnson’s party conference speech as “economically illiterate”. The prime minister’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference on Wednesday came as many businesses are struggling with supply chain issues and a lack of workers. A shortage of HGV drivers has resulted in a shortage of fuel in some

Boris Johnson has branded levelling up “the greatest project that any government can embark on” in his closing speech at the Conservative Party’s annual conference. In his keynote address marking the end of the four-day event, the prime minister pledged that his top team will “get on with our job of uniting and levelling up

The removal of the £20 Universal Credit uplift should be paused through winter until there is a better understanding of what is happening to the economy after the pandemic, a former Conservative Party leader has said. Speaking to Sky News, Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the policy has been “the silent ship in the fleet”

Boris Johnson has said he cannot guarantee that targets to improve rape prosecution and conviction rates set out in the government’s Rape Review will be met. Plans set out in the report, which was commissioned in 2019 and published in June of this year, said the volume of rape cases going to court should return

A Conservative donor has suggested the party convenes a “special investigation'” into conflicts of interest surrounding the Tory co-chairman Ben Elliot. Mohammed Amersi, a telecoms entrepreneur and philanthropist, has also argued the party should improve its governance structures and remove Mr Elliot if he does not comply. “[Ben Elliot] has done a great job in

Gordon Brown has pleaded with the government not to go ahead with a £20-a-week cut to universal credit. The former prime minister said: “It is not too late for the government to spare millions of people the choice between heating and eating this winter.” He cited research showing that 3.4 million households – or 6.3

Boris Johnson has not ruled out shortages continuing until Christmas, but said the festive period this year will be “considerably better” than last year. “I’m very confident this Christmas will be considerably better,” the prime minister said during a visit to a youth club in Manchester. Live updates from the Conservative Party conference When it

Boris Johnson has challenged Conservatives to take “big, bold decisions” as they gather for their party conference – but, ahead of the Manchester event, the prime minister is also being challenged over the fuel crisis, rising cost of living, supply issues and welfare cuts. More than 10,000 delegates are expected to attend the Tory conference

Staff in care homes who don’t receive both vaccine jabs ahead of a looming deadline should “get out and get another job”, Health Secretary Sajid Javid has warned. His warning comes ahead of the 11 November legal deadline for care home workers to have had both COVID-19 jabs, but some unions and care homes are

The golden rule of Boris Johnson’s Conservatives is that an otherwise disparate party is at its most happy when it’s talking about Brexit and its consequences. At times of stress, it’s the trump card the PM routinely reaches for. Given the stage of the country, expect it to feature heavily during the party conference. As

The policing minister has said it would be “perfectly reasonable” for anyone being approached by a lone police officer to call 999 and seek reassurance in the wake of the rape and murder of Sarah Everard. Speaking to Sky News’ Kay Burley, Kit Malthouse gave advice on what people should do if they are approached

Sir Keir Starmer has said the Labour conference this week was a turning point for the party and it now has a “credible programme” to win the next general election. The Labour leader, speaking the morning after his 90-minute keynote speech, said if voters do not want to support the plans put forward at conference

The government’s coronavirus furlough scheme ends today after supporting millions of workers during the pandemic. Ministers say the wages of more than 11 million jobs were subsidised for at least some of the scheme’s duration, at a cost of about £70bn. There is now uncertainty over the almost one million people still thought to be

Sir Keir Starmer batted away hecklers during a mammoth speech in which he used his personal experiences to show off his human side as he announced a key climate change policy. Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, introduced Sir Keir before his conference speech by thanking the Labour leader for helping prosecute his

Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly refused to say if he is moving Labour away from the left to the centre of British politics, but insisted: “You can’t lose four elections and not change”. On the eve of his first in-person Labour conference speech as party leader, Sir Keir said he was focussed on turning Labour

Ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has revealed he spoke to Andy McDonald before he announced he was quitting Sir Keir Starmer’s top team – but he denied there had been “some deep-laid Machiavellian plot”. Sir Keir has been rocked by the resignation of Mr McDonald as shadow secretary of state for employment rights and protections midway

A Labour MP has dramatically quit the shadow cabinet mid-way through the party’s Brighton conference with an attack on Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership and policies. Andy McDonald, who had been shadow secretary of state for employment rights and protections, said his position as a member of Sir Keir’s top team had become “untenable”. The 63-year-old,