Politics

Ed Miliband does not regret voting against the UK taking military action in Syria in 2013, he has told Sky News. His comments to Sky’s breakfast presenter Anna Jones come following the collapse of the Bashar al Assad regime in the region. Back in 2013, when Mr Miliband was Labour leader, UK MPs voted against

It might be tempting, given how much coverage has focused on it recently, to assume the forthcoming changes to inheritance tax regime are the single biggest issue facing farmers these days.  But the reality is these tax changes come at a moment of extraordinary pressure, with farmers having to contend with a swathe of unsettling

Plans to “green” the UK’s power system will protect consumers from future energy crises and has the potential to “bring down bills for good”, the government has said. Achieving clean electricity by 2030 was a key election promise for the Labour party, and reiterated by Keir Starmer last week as he outlined government ‘milestones’. To

The government is today demanding “immediate, mandatory” housing targets from councils as part of its plans to build 1.5 million houses by the next general election. During its election campaign Labour promised to build swathes of new housing to address lack of affordability and supply. And it will today release its latest version of the

Prisons minister Lord James Timpson has told Sky News that he is having “a conversation” with parliament and the public sector about hiring more ex-convicts. Lord Timpson pushed for ex-offenders to get employment at his family’s Timpson chain while CEO – with around 10% of employees being former convicts – and previously chaired the Prison

Puberty blockers for under-18s with gender dysphoria will be banned indefinitely in the UK, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced. The government said that following official advice from medical experts, existing emergency measures banning the sale and supply of the drugs outside of clinical trials will stay in place. Health and Social

A Labour MP hosted a man at the centre of a terror group probe in parliament just weeks before his arrest, Sky News can reveal. Agit Karatas is one of six people who were charged on Tuesday with being members of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after an investigation by counter-terrorism police in London.

👉Listen to Politics At Jack And Sam’s on your podcast app👈 Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard share their daily guide to the day ahead in politics in under 20 minutes. Rachel Reeves gets Westminster in the Christmas spirit as she launches her spending review – will the chancellor do

Sir Keir Starmer has said UK economic growth was his “number one mission” as he defended his trip to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The prime minister accused predecessor Boris Johnson of “going cap in hand from dictator to dictator” when the former PM met Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in

The government has called on “disruptors, innovators and creative thinkers” to help make the civil service more productive. Senior minister Pat McFadden said he wants Whitehall to have more of a “start-up” mentality as he cited Airbnb, Whatsapp and Spotify as examples of the mindset the civil service should take on to be more productive

The UK government could remove the group that led the Syrian rebellion from its list of banned terror organisations, a senior minister has told Sky News. Pat McFadden told Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley a decision would be made “quickly” about whether to take Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) off the proscribed terror list. Syria

Protecting wildlife shouldn’t come at the expense of building more homes, Angela Rayner has said. Last week, Sir Keir Starmer pledged to build 1.5 million homes and fast-track planning decisions on 150 major infrastructure projects by the end of the decade. Ms Rayner, who is deputy prime minister and housing secretary, was asked if this

Reset, revamp, or repetition? Call the prime minister’s “Plan for Change” what you like, but it clearly puts planning front and centre. The core pledge was one we first heard 14 months ago: 1.5 million homes built in England during this parliament. The government admits it’s a tough ask. It’s not been met since 1972,

Sir Keir Starmer is not accustomed to receiving much praise, so he’ll take it where he can. And on Friday it came from an unlikely source, his political opponents. Speaking at the British-Irish Council summit in Edinburgh, SNP leader and Scottish First Minister John Swinney described a change in atmosphere since Labour took office. Image:

Conservative peer Lord Rami Ranger has forfeited his CBE – just a month after regaining the Tory whip. The move was confirmed in a notice published in the London Gazette saying the King had directed Lord Ranger’s CBE would be “cancelled and annulled”. According to the PA news agency, the decision was made after the

Kemi Badenoch has hit back at Sir Keir Starmer for joking about her comments on working at McDonald’s – saying he would face calls to resign if he were a Conservative prime minister. Ms Badenoch, who replaced Rishi Sunak as Tory leader last month, has spoken extensively about her time working at the fast food

Sir Keir Starmer has said it is not his “plan” to increase any more taxes before the next election – but he cannot categorically rule them out if “unforeseen circumstances” strike the government. The prime minister told the BBC he did not “want to suggest we’re going to keep coming back for more because that

Like Rishi Sunak did before him, Sir Keir Starmer has announced “measurable milestones” that he says his government will deliver on during his time as prime minister. He says that this will “throw a gauntlet down” to ministers and civil servants who will have to deliver on the priorities, while also allowing the British people

After five months in power, even the most loyal cabinet members would quietly admit it’s been a rocky run for Sir Keir Starmer and Labour. The prime minister’s personal polling ratings have tumbled from a +7 in the post-election honeymoon to -29 now. Many pensioners, business owners, entrepreneurs and farmers are angry, and between the

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to reveal the “further information” he was told about Louise Haigh’s phone “theft” conviction which led to her stepping down as transport secretary. The prime minister was asked by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch what new information “came to light” about Ms Haigh’s conviction, which is now “spent”, for reporting a