Politics

Daniel Korski has stood aside from the race to be Tory candidate for mayor of London following an allegation of groping. The claim was first made against Mr Korski on 26 June, and he strenuously denied the allegation. In his withdrawal statement, Mr Korski said he was stepping aside “with a heavy heart”. He said:

Thames Water has appointed industry veteran Sir Adrian Montague as chairman as the troubled utility provider seeks to shore up public and investor confidence. The former chairman of Anglian Water and insurance giant Aviva, Sir Adrian will replace current chairman Ian Marchant, who announced in April that he would stand down at the end of

Shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy is expected to criticise opposition from within her own party following complaints about Labour’s plans to increase homeownership if they enter government. Ms Nandy – who will be speaking to Sky News on Wednesday morning – will unveil more of her party’s ideas at the Housing 23 summit in Manchester.

Conservative London mayoral hopeful Daniel Korski has called an allegation he groped a woman “baseless” – as he “categorically” denied any wrongdoing. The former Downing Street adviser released a lengthy statement on Tuesday after the allegation emerged on Monday evening. TV producer and screenwriter Daisy Goodwin alleged in an article for The Times that she

The government must abandon any plans to detain and deport children under controversial new migration laws, MPs have warned. The Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) said any potential harm to youngsters caught up in the asylum system must outweigh potential damage to the government’s policy agenda. Under the Illegal Migration Bill, which is back in

Rishi Sunak has hinted he will ignore recommendations for public sector pay rises, saying workers “need to recognise the economic context we are in”. Reports surfaced over the weekend that the prime minister planned to block upcoming proposals from public sector pay bodies in an attempt to tackle soaring inflation in the country. And health

Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy has criticised her own party for selecting five white male candidates for a string of forthcoming by-elections. The shadow communities secretary told Sky News that “of course” she was bothered Labour had gone for an all-white male list to contest the Westminster seats. Female opposition MPs are reported to be angered

The Home Office is working on plans to house hundreds of migrants in marquees on large sites across the country, Sky News understands. A government source said the plans were still at an early stage, but were being developed by the department. A number of new controversial accommodation sites have been announced by the Conservatives

A snap Ofsted inspection should be conducted at a school where a pupil was reported to have identified as a cat, a senior minister has said. A teacher is said to have been recorded telling another classmate at Rye College secondary school in East Sussex that she was “despicable” for refusing to accept the pupil

Junior doctors in England will strike for five consecutive days in July, in what is thought to be the longest single period of industrial action in the history of the health service. The British Medical Association (BMA) said the five-day walkout would be between 7am on Thursday 13 July and 7am on Tuesday 18 July.

Sky News political editor Beth Rigby analyses the week’s big stories, including the pressure piling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to get inflation under control. Rigby speaks to Sir Elton John’s husband, filmmaker David Furnish – who chairs the musician’s AIDS foundation – about the work the organisation is doing in Ukraine, and the irony

In leafy South West Surrey, traditional Tory ground, we are taking the public temperature. “It’s very hard to vote Conservative at the moment”, 49-year-old Penny tells us. “You just can’t ignore the last two years”. This is the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s seat (8,800 majority). Voters here are affluent, home-owning, traditional Conservatives, the sort of people

Around 14,000 people were not able to vote in this year’s local elections because they failed to produce the right photo ID, the Electoral Commission has revealed. Under new rules brought in by the government, voters must now show an accepted form of photo identification before they are allowed a ballot paper. New data from

Halving inflation by the end of year is “hard but not impossible”, the prime minister has said, in a comment on his pledge earlier in the year to do so. The prime minister was speaking to the Times CEO summit shortly after the surprise hiking of interest rates by the Bank of England on Thursday

Labour has unveiled a five-point plan to tackle the mortgage crisis – but Rishi Sunak is insisting that “beating inflation has to be the priority”. The Opposition and the prime minister were speaking ahead of the Bank of England preparing to hike interests rate yet again after inflation in the UK defied expectations and failed

Another of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s five key priorities for 2023 is in doubt as national debt reached 100% of GDP. The third of the government’s five targets is to reduce the national debt but official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed it increased in May to the highest in more than

Rishi Sunak is facing a by-election triple threat after the Somerton and Frome vote was scheduled for 20 July. The announcement comes after David Warburton formally left the House of Commons on Monday. The election will take place on the same day as Boris Johnson’s vacated Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat, and Nigel Adams’ Selby

A “conspiracy theory” film about former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will not be screened at Glastonbury following a complaint by a leading Jewish group. Oh, Jeremy Corbyn… The Big Lie, was set to be shown on Sunday at the festival. According to the website of producer Platform Films, the “feature-length documentary film explores a dark

To the very end, Boris Johnson and his dwindling band of supporters – and Rishi Sunak and the Tory high command – were outwitted by the Labour Party in the parliamentary battle over partygate. At the beginning of the Privileges Committee process, back in April 2022, the Tories failed to spot the trap being laid

David Cameron was heckled with shouts of “shame on you” as he left the COVID inquiry after giving evidence. The former prime minister was questioned for more than two hours on Monday on how prepared the government was for a pandemic during his time in office. But as he left the hearing in London and