Raye has smashed the record for the most Brit awards won in any one year – taking home six prizes including best song, best artist and best album.
The star was visibly emotional as she collected the statuette for best album for her debut, My 21st Century Blues, saying: “You just don’t understand what this means to me.”
She was joined by her grandma, Agatha, on stage, and apologised as she broke down in tears, joking: “I’m ugly crying on national television.”
The star told the crowd that her middle name is also Agatha, and added: “My grandma is awake ’til 3am praying for me and my beautiful sisters.”
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Raye calls success ‘a miracle’
Raye, 26, also won the awards for best R&B act, best new artist, and songwriter of the year – a gong that was announced ahead of the ceremony – and performed a medley of her songs including Ice Cream Man and Escapism during the show.
Before her trophy sweep, the record for most Brits won in a night was four, held jointly by Harry Styles, Adele and Blur – but that has now been smashed.
It marks an incredible journey for the London-born singer, who called out her former label in 2021 and went on to release her debut album on her own terms as an independent star.
She topped the charts at the start of 2023 and was also shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Prize last year – now she is a Brits record-breaker. Speaking to Sky News on the red carpet ahead of the show, she described everything that has happened to her in the last few years as “a miracle”.
Raye only lost out on one prize – best pop act, which went to Dua Lipa.
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Kylie Minogue – truly a global icon
The show was closed by Kylie Minogue, who performed a medley of her hits with an array of costume changes – starting with 2023 smash Padam Padam and including Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, Love At First Sight and All The Lovers – after being named this year’s global icon.
Her award was announced with a look back at her five-decade spanning career, taking in her journey from I Should Be So Lucky to Padam Padam, via Can’t Get You Out Of My Heard and an array of her other hits.
Accepting her prize, the Australian star paid tribute to Raye’s achievement, saying: “I’m just going to be sobbing with Raye – Raye you did that.”
Minogue told the audience that there is still “a part of me that’s the 14-year-old girl in the room dreaming of making music”.
Talking to music students in the room, she said: “I just feel your promise and I’m so excited for you.”
“I love you, and I will always love you, you have my heart,” the icon added.
Elsewhere, Jungle were named group of the year, while in the other genre categories, which are voted for by the public, Bring Me The Horizon took home the best alternative/rock act award, Casisdead won best hip-hop/grime/rap act, and Calvin Harris was this year’s dance act winner.
In the international categories, Miley Cyrus’s Flowers was named best song, boygenius were named best group, and SZA was named best artist.
The full list of awards won by Raye (and some by other stars)
Album of the year – Raye, My 21st Century Blues Artist of the year – Raye Song of the year – Raye ft 070 Shake, Escapism Best new artist – Raye R&B act – Raye Songwriter of the year – Raye Group of the year – Jungle International artist of the year – SZA International group of the year – boygenius International song of the year – Miley Cyrus, Flowers Alternative/ rock act – Bring Me The Horizon Hip-hop/ grime/ rap act – Casisdead Dance act – Calvin Harris Pop act – Dua Lipa Producer of the year – Chase & Status Brits global icon – Kylie Minogue Brits rising star – The Last Dinner Party
Rishi Sunak has failed to rule out holding a general election in July, as speculation remains rife over the timing of the national vote.
The prime minister has repeatedly said his “working assumption” is the election would take place in the second half of this year – with the law stating January 2025 is the latest he could call it.
But while many commentators have predicted an autumn vote, Sky News’ Trevor Phillips put to Mr Sunak that it could mean as early as July.
In his interview – which will air in full on Sunday at 8.30am – Trevor Phillips pushed Mr Sunak five times over whether he would rule out a July general election, but the Conservative leader refused to confirm or deny if it could take place then.
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“You’re going to try and draw whatever conclusion you want from what I say,” he said. “I’m going to always try and say the same thing. You should just listen to what I said, [the] same thing I’ve said all year.
“But the point is… there’s a choice when it comes to the general election. And look, over the past week or so… the country can have a very clear sense of what that difference is going to look like.”
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“And when the election comes, there’ll be a clear choice, because the Labour Party has tried to frustrate our Rwanda bill, because they don’t believe in stopping the boats, their economic plan will put people’s taxes up.
“They haven’t said that they will invest more in our defence and they certainly don’t agree with reforming our welfare system to support people into work.”
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Labour has said it wants to match the hike in defence spending when the financial circumstances allow, and has promised to scrap the Rwanda bill if it gets into power.
This week, its pre-election focus has been on railways, promising to renationalise train operators and “sweep away” the current “broken” model if the party wins the next election.
Conservative MP and former health minister Dan Poulter has defected to Labour in frustration at the worsening NHS crisis.
The MP for Suffolk Central and Ipswich North, with a majority of 23,391 at the last election, has indicated he is not planning to stand at the next general election.
The defection was revealed in an article on The Observer website, in which he said working as a mental health doctor in a busy hospital A&E over the past year had shown him how desperate the NHS situation had become.
“Working on the frontline of a health service under great strain left me at times, as an MP, struggling to look my NHS colleagues, my patients and my constituents in the eye,” he said.
He recalled seriously ill patients suffering long waits for treatment often hundreds of miles from their homes, adding that the “chaos of today’s fragmented patchwork of community addiction services” had put more pressure on already-stretched A&Es.
“The mental toll of a service stretched close to breaking point is not confined to patients and their families. It also weighs heavily on my NHS colleagues who are unable to deliver the right care in a system that simply no longer works for our patients.”
He said he had resigned from the Conservative Party to focus on his work as a doctor and to support Keir Starmer.
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“I can well remember when I first qualified as a doctor and began working in the NHS in 2006. At the time, patient care had been radically improved and transformed by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s Labour governments, following many years of Conservative neglect and under-investment.
“…I have come to the conclusion that, once again, the only cure is a Labour government.”
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Dr Poulter criticised the Tories for “putting the politics of public sector pay ahead of ending strikes with healthcare workers”, adding: “Political ideology has been put before pragmatism and meeting the needs of patients, who are the real losers from the strikes”.
He also told The Observer the Conservatives had become “a nationalist party of the right” in the last eight years.
“It is not to say all [Tory] MPs are like that,” he said.
“There are good MPs, but it feels that the party is ever moving rightwards, ever presenting a more nationalist position.”
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer celebrated the defection on social media, tweeting: “It’s time to end the Conservative chaos, turn the page, and get Britain’s future back. I’m really pleased that Dan has decided to join us on this journey.”
Sky’s Jon Craig called the defection a “disastrous blow for the Conservatives and a massive propaganda coup for Labour”.
However, two councillors in Dr Poulter’s constituency seemed glad to see him go.
Councillor Samantha Murray said in a post on X that the local Conservative Party “have had to carry him for years”.
Councillor Ian Fisher posted: “Was campaigning this morning and he didn’t even have the decency to tell his hard-working activists in advance. A very self-centered man.”
Stop the boats? Sunak needs to stop the rot in the Tory party
Dr Poulter isn’t just any backbencher, which is what makes his defection to Labour all the more damaging for the prime minister and the Tory high command.
He’s an NHS doctor who’s worked in mental health services and was a junior health minister from 2012-15 when David Cameron was prime minister.
Alongside the formidable Mr Streeting, the dashing doctor will be a powerful advocate for Labour on the NHS.
Stop the boats? After the “honeytrap” MP scandal and the fiasco of the “bad people” MP, this calamitous defection from a high-profile and highly-respected MP, Mr Sunak needs to stop the rot in the Conservative Party.
A Conservative Party spokesperson responded to the resignation by saying the news would be “disappointing” for Dr Poulter’s constituents.
“Under the Conservatives we are raising NHS funding to a record £165bn a year, helping it recover from the effects of the pandemic and driving forward its first-ever long-term workforce plan so that we train the doctors and nurses we need for the future in our country.
“Thanks to our plan, we have already virtually eliminated the longest waits and overall waiting lists have fallen by 200,000 in the last five months – and we will go further to make sure everyone gets the world-class care they need.”
Migrants travelling to Ireland after arriving in the UK on small boats is a sign the Rwanda scheme is already working as a deterrent, Rishi Sunak has said.
Sky News’s Trevor Phillips asked the prime minister if migrants finding their way to Ireland was a sign the UK was “exporting the problem”.
In his interview – which will air in full on Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show tomorrow at 8.30am – Mr Sunak was asked about the comments, saying they illustrated “the deterrent is… already having an impact”.
“People are worried about coming here and that demonstrates exactly what I’m saying,” he said. “If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay there, they are much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.”
Downing Street on Friday rebuffed claims the Rwanda plan was already influencing movements into Ireland, saying it was too early to jump to conclusions on its impact.
Mr Sunak said the comments also illustrate “that illegal migration is a global challenge”.
“[That] is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships, looking at novel ways to solve this problem, and I believe will follow where the UK has led,” he said.
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Mr Martin told The Daily Telegraph that the policy was already affecting Ireland, as people were “fearful” of staying in the UK.
Ireland’s deputy prime minister said: “Maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have.”
Mr Martin, who is also Ireland’s foreign minister, said asylum seekers were looking “to get sanctuary here and within the European Union as opposed to the potential of being deported to Rwanda”.
On the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which finally became law this week after so-called “ping pong” between the Commons and the House of Lords, Mr Sunak said a deterrent was the only way to stop the boats.
“We did just have an important moment this week that in spite of all the opposition from the Labour Party we have passed the Rwanda bill through Parliament in the face of enormous opposition,” he told Sir Trevor.
“That’s important because the only way to fully solve this problem is to have a deterrent, so that if people come to a country illegally, they’re not able to stay, and we can return them.”
Refugee groups in Ireland admit that the threat of being deported to Rwanda is, as the Irish government claims, driving migrants across the border from Northern Ireland into the Republic.
Nick Henderson of the Irish Refugee Council told Sky News: “As long as there is a Rwanda policy and the Illegal Migration Act which states that somebody can’t lodge an application for asylum in the UK and have it considered if they enter in an irregular way, it’s going to have knock-on effects on Ireland, that’s plain to see.”
Now that the Rwanda legislation has finally become law, Tory MPs believe the PM can no longer blame his political opponents in parliament, in the Commons and the Lords, if it fails to stop the boats.
The danger for Mr Sunak, even his supporters concede, is that even if planes do take off for Rwanda this summer and some migrants head for Ireland, it may not stop the tide of more illegal migrants crossing the channel.
His comments came after Ireland’s justice minister told a committee of the Irish Parliament she estimates more than 80% of migrants in the Republic had crossed from Northern Ireland.
The UK’s prime minister told Trevor Phillips his focus “is on the United Kingdom and securing our border”.
The Safety of Rwanda Bill became an Act on Thursday, with Number 10 announcing the same day that the first deportation plane had been booked.
After a number of setbacks and delays, the bill passed in parliament earlier this weekand then received royal assent, with Home Secretary James Cleverly hailing the approval as a “landmark moment in our plan to stop the boats”.
Anticipating the bill’s passage, the prime minister earlier this week promised the first flights would take off in 10 to 12 weeks – “come what may”.