UK

Middlesbrough Football Club has called Chelsea’s request to play the quarter-final tie behind closed doors as “bizarre and without merit whatsoever”. Chelsea asked for the tie at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium on 19 March to be played behind closed doors after government sanctions against Roman Abramovich meant it is unable to sell new tickets to home

British-Iranian nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori are heading to Tehran airport ahead of leaving the country, their lawyer has said. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker from Hampstead, northwest London, had been detained since her arrest in 2016 on charges of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, which she denies. Her release comes after her

Britain’s pay squeeze deepened at the start of the year as wages fell in real terms at the sharpest rate for more than seven years, official figures show. Average earnings – stripping out bonuses – climbed by 3.8% in the three months to January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), up from 3.7%

All remaining COVID travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form and tests for arrivals, will end this week, the transport secretary has said.   Grant Shapps says anyone arriving in the UK from 4am this Friday will not need to comply with any of the previous rules. He tweeted: “These changes are possible due to

Twenty-one Ukrainian children suffering from cancer have arrived in the UK to receive life-saving care – as Britons are being urged to open their homes to people fleeing the war. The children and their immediate family members arrived from Poland on Sunday evening and will be assessed before they receive treatment at an appropriate NHS

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees could come to the UK and each local council will get more than £10,000 per individual, Michael Gove told Sky News. The housing and levelling up secretary, who is in charge of the Ukrainian refugee scheme, also said the UK has now processed “more than 3,000” visas for Ukrainians

Families who welcome Ukrainian refugees into their home for at least six months rent-free will receive a £350-a-month “thank you” from the government. After weeks of criticism of the government’s response to the refugee crisis, the Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove is finally announcing a “Homes for Ukraine” scheme. Mr Gove is proposing that a

Boris Johnson is poised to travel to Saudi Arabia next week for talks on oil as he attempts to move the UK away from dependence on energy supplies from Russia. Although Downing Street insists the trip is not finalised or confirmed, the prime minister is facing calls from Tory MPs to intervene to urge the

A Russian-born poet and Instagram favourite who fled the country after her father was murdered has called for Vladimir Putin to be arrested and tried for war crimes. Arch Hades, a pseudonym she uses for security reasons, told Sky News the bombardment of Ukraine was “abhorrent” and insisted most Russians oppose “Putin’s war”. The 29-year-old,

The UK has announced sanctions on 386 Russian politicians who supported Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Foreign Office has said. The sanctions mean bans on travel to the UK and the freezing of assets for those who voted for the independence of separatist regions Luhansk and Donetsk. Fears Putin’s forces could use chemical weapons

Boris Johnson has said it has been “deeply upsetting” and “absolutely agonising” to refuse President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a no-fly zone over Ukraine. The prime minister, speaking to Sky News’ Beth Rigby Interviews programme, said the pair have had some “very frank conversations” but the UK and NATO cannot cross that line. On Wednesday, Mr Zelenskyy

Boris Johnson has said he fears Vladimir Putin may deploy chemical weapons in Ukraine as that would be “straight out of Russia’s playbook”. Speaking on Sky News’ Beth Rigby Interviews programme, the prime minister said the only way the war in Ukraine can end is if the Russian president realises he has made a “catastrophic

The coronavirus pandemic is not over and cases among older people are increasing, an expert has warned. Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), sounded the alarm after data showed that an increasing number of people aged 55 and older have COVID-19. About one in 35 people (2.88%) of people

Drivers in the UK have been hit by the largest daily rise in average diesel prices, as the cost per litre shot up by nearly 3p in a single day. Figures from data firm Experian Catalist show the average cost of a litre of diesel at UK forecourts reached 165.2p on Tuesday, up from Monday’s

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has announced the UK government will send more weapons to Ukraine, including fresh supplies of anti-tank missiles, for the country to defend itself against Russian aggression. Updating MPs on the Ukraine war in the Commons, he told MPs that the UK has delivered 3,615 anti-tank (NLAW) weapons and will soon be

John Bercow has been found guilty of bullying House of Commons staff by the standards watchdog and banned from holding a pass allowing him access to parliament buildings for life. A report published by the Independent Expert Panel into the former Commons speaker’s conduct states Mr Bercow “has been a serial liar” and “a serial

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address British MPs via video link tomorrow. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has granted Mr Zelenskyy’s request to read a statement to the House of Commons at 5pm GMT on Tuesday. It is expected he will ask for more arms and will repeat calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine,

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mark Rutte of the Netherlands will visit Downing Street today for talks about the international response to the Ukraine crisis, as the UK government is criticised for moving too slowly on sanctioning oligarchs. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will launch into a week of what Number 10 called “focussed engagement”

More than 10,000 people have applied for the UK’s Ukraine Family Scheme since Friday. Under the scheme Ukrainian refugees who have family settled in the UK will be able to apply to come to Britain for three years. The numbers were announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel – on the same day France publicly criticised

Boris Johnson could increase the defence budget within weeks, amid fears the fallout from the Ukraine crisis will cost the exchequer tens of billions of pounds. Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver the spring statement on 23 March alongside the latest Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts, which are published twice a year. The OBR is