UK

Rishi Sunak has confirmed the long-rumoured decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2. Reports the planned high speed rail line would end in Birmingham – rather than continuing up to Manchester – have been circling for weeks, with sources telling Sky News on Monday the decision had been made. But the prime minister has

HS2 will start at Euston rather than Old Oak Common – but between Birmingham and Manchester it will not be high speed, Sky News understands. The rail line will stop in Manchester, but from Birmingham it will switch to use existing West Coast Mainline track. It will therefore not be high speed after Birmingham –

A 12-year-old boy is in a critical condition after he and a man in his 50s were struck by lightning during a school football tournament. The incident took place during the district tournament at The Sele School in Hertfordshire on Monday afternoon. The boy was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in a critical condition,

A huge fireball has been seen in Oxfordshire after reports of an “explosion” in the area. The mystery bang was reported earlier this evening, with people sharing footage of the fire on social media. Sky News understands the incident centres around a Severn Trent Water facility. A witness told the Oxford Mail they saw a

When vape sensors were fitted in the toilets at St Joseph’s High School in Horwich in Bolton, headteacher Tony McCabe never expected what they were about to reveal. “On the very first day, they went off 112 times.” In a school of 1,000 pupils, he said it was “beyond anything I imagined”. Those caught included

Drunken cell parties, fights, stabbings, prison guards with faulty equipment out of their depth. Welcome to HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, where staff Sky News has spoken to claim all these events have taken place, and one guard told us assaults on staff are “a daily event”. Three prison guards have blown the whistle on

A teenager who was on the coach which overturned in a fatal crash on the M53 in Cheshire says he is “happy to be alive”. Speaking to Sky News anonymously, he recalled how what started as a normal school day on Friday turned into a tragedy. “We were all just chatting on our phones,” he

Michael Gove has called for a tax cut before the next general election – putting him at odds with the chancellor on the first day of Conservative Party conference. Jeremy Hunt told The Times newspaper on Saturday the government was “not in a position to talk about tax cuts at all”, and needed to focus

Police have contacted the family of a young football fan who died from cancer after two people appeared to mock him at Sheffield Wednesday’s clash with Sunderland. Two people were pictured holding up a phone appearing to show Bradley Lowery’s face as they laughed following the club’s 3-0 Championship defeat to Sunderland. After the incident,

Rishi Sunak has said he is “slamming the brakes on the war on motorists” – with the government confirming that councils will be stopped from enforcing blanket 20mph speed limits. Low-traffic neighbourhoods are also in the prime minister’s crosshairs and will only be permitted where there is local consent. The Department for Transport added that

The 15-year-old girl killed in a school bus crash on the M53 in the Wirral has been named as Jessica Baker. The driver of the bus also died in Friday morning’s incident but has not yet been publicly identified. A total of 54 people were on board – with many assessed at the scene near

A school bus has overturned in a crash on a motorway in Merseyside. Calday Grange Grammar School confirmed one of its coaches were involved in the incident on the M53. A statement posted by the school on X, formerly Twitter, said: “A situation involving one of our school buses on the highway earlier today has

Laurence Fox has apologised to journalist Ava Evans over his comments on GB News. In a 15-minute mea culpa, the actor-turned-political-activist said his comments were “demeaning” and “not representative of who I am”. However, he said he maintained “the sentiment” of his comments, saying he was angry about what he said was Ms Evans “demeaning”

A 15-year old girl has been stabbed to death during the rush hour in Croydon, the Metropolitan Police have said. Officers were called to Wellesley Road, in south London, at around 8.30am this morning and she died at the scene near the Whitgift shopping centre shortly after 9.20am. A white tent and a stationary number

The teenage boy being held after a 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death in south London was known to local community groups, according to a charity worker who works to combat youth violence. The girl, who has not been named, was stabbed in the neck with a foot-long knife while on her way to private

GB news presenter Laurence Fox has been formally suspended by the channel after he refused to apologise for saying of a female journalist live on air: “Show me a self-respecting man that would like to climb into bed with that.” GB News had launched an investigation after Fox made a series of remarks about Ava

Firearms officers in the Metropolitan Police are planning a mass downing of guns if the identity of the officer accused of Chris Kaba’s murder is made public by a judge. An officer appeared at court last Thursday charged with the murder of Mr Kaba, 24, who was killed in September last year in Streatham Hill,

Home Secretary Suella Braverman will question whether the foundation of modern asylum law is still relevant in a speech in the US on Tuesday. Ms Braverman will ask whether the United Nations Refugee Convention 1951 is “fit for our modern age”. She will be speaking to the American Enterprise Institute, a centre-right think tank in

The Metropolitan Police says it has received a number of sexual offence allegations against Russell Brand in London and elsewhere in the country. It says the alleged offences are all non-recent. A Met statement said: “Following an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches and The Sunday Times, the Met has received a number of allegations of

The head of the Metropolitan Police has demanded increased legal protections for officers after a revolt by armed police left the army poised to fill in. Soldiers are on standby for armed police after scores of Metropolitan Police officers stood down from firearms duties following a murder charge against one of their colleagues. The force’s