Politics

The prime minister has rarely seemed so passionate as when he answered a question from Sky’s Beth Rigby on Elon Musk’s vitriolic comments about safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, who Musk described as a “witch” who should go to prison. Sir Keir Starmer was speaking at a press conference following a big new year speech on the government’s

Elon Musk has said Reform UK needs a “new leader” because Nigel Farage “doesn’t have what it takes”. The X owner posted the tweet on Sunday following days of headlines over his comments about the historic grooming scandal that took place across UK towns and cities more than a decade ago. Mr Musk, who has

Donald Trump’s second stint as president will be like a “24/7 bar-room brawl”, according to the UK’s former ambassador to Washington. Lord Darroch was the representative for the UK to the US between 2016 and 2019 – when Mr Trump was last in power – until cables he sent to London were leaked and showed

The co-manager for Donald Trump’s presidential election campaign has called Lord Peter Mandelson an “absolute moron” – as the peer was officially announced as the next UK ambassador to the US. The Labour grandee, who served in Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s cabinets, will become the UK’s top diplomat in Washington as president-elect Donald

Germany will make it a specific criminal offence to facilitate migrant smuggling towards the UK as part of a new co-operation deal. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, signed the deal with her German counterpart, Nancy Faeser, on Monday evening. Under the plan, Germany will clarify its domestic law to make it a criminal offence to

The government has paused all decisions on Syrian asylum claims following the rapid fall of the Assad regime over the weekend. The Home Office said the move had been made “whilst we assess the current situation”. “The Home Office has paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation,” a statement said.

Government plans to boost prison capacity could cost billions more than estimated and fall short by thousands of cell spaces, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office (NAO) said current plans to expand prisons are “insufficient to meet future demand”, with a projected shortage of 12,400 prison places by the end of 2027.

Young people will lose their benefits if they refuse to take up work and training opportunities, a minister has confirmed ahead of announcing measures to cut the welfare bill. Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that “conditions” will be attached to new skills opportunities the government intends

The home secretary has refused to say if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he landed on British soil after an international arrest warrant was issued for him. On Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and former Israeli defence secretary Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes

Instagram is releasing a feature that will let users easily reset their algorithms, as the government strengthens its regulation of online safety. With the new reset feature, users can clear their recommended content from Explore, Reels and their feed, potentially reducing the amount of harmful content they are exposed to. It’s all part of Meta’s

Climate change, the crisis in the Middle East, the continuing war in Ukraine, combating global poverty. All of these are critical issues for Britain and beyond; all of them up for discussions at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro this week, and all of them very much in limbo as the world awaits the

👉 Listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app👈 Beth, Ruth and Harriet work out what Donald Trump’s second presidency will mean for the UK as they debrief after the American election. They heard from one of Theresa May’s advisers who had to deal with Trump when he was last in the White House and

UK and European leaders will collectively react to Donald Trump’s win as they meet to discuss security today – and it casts a very long shadow. As the enormity of the US result sinks in, Sir Keir Starmer will join a summit in Budapest hosted by the president-elect’s biggest cheerleader on the continent, Hungarian Prime

In the week that Donald Trump filed a legal case against the Labour Party for alleged “blatant election interference” – Beth, Ruth and Harriet ask whether we should turn a blind eye to the drama, or whether the former president actually has a point. Just how problematic is this for Sir Keir Starmer? Later, Beth

If Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November this could be rather awkward. The Trump-Vance campaign have accused the Labour Party of “blatant foreign interference” in the US election and are demanding a formal investigation into Labour members’ campaigning for their Democratic rival Kamala Harris. But is this anything new, or just a

Extending a freeze on income tax thresholds in the budget would not break Labour’s election manifesto, government sources have suggested. The current freeze in thresholds, brought in by the previous Conservative government after the pandemic, is due to expire in 2028. However, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is now expected to prolong this for another two years

Sir Keir Starmer will attend a meeting with US President Joe Biden and the French and German leaders in Berlin this weekend. In the meeting of the “Quad” nations, the leaders will discuss the “concerning developments” in the Middle East and the situation in Ukraine, Sir Keir’s spokesman said. The meeting has been organised to

Boris Johnson has denied mocking the public by questioning why they “so avidly craved” lockdown rules and obeyed them “like a religion”. In an interview with Sky News’ Wilfred Frost, the former prime minister said he “totally rejects” he was expressing disdain for people who did as they were told by his government during the

The Criminal Bar Association has warned the government against increasing sentencing powers for magistrates, saying the “knee-jerk reaction” would “simply make things worse” for overcrowded prisons. Reports over the weekend claimed the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was looking at doubling the sentences that magistrates were allowed to impose from six months to a year, enabling

The NHS will not get any more funding without reforming, Sir Keir Starmer has said as he laid out a 10-year plan to fix the health service. The prime minister stressed his plans to build an NHS fit for the future “do not just mean putting more money in”, and will take a decade to