Politics

Yvette Cooper is elevated to shadow home secretary while Lisa Nandy will move from shadow foreign secretary to the levelling up brief as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reshuffles his cabinet. Ms Cooper, who held the home affairs brief previously from 2011 to 2015 under former Labour leader Ed Miliband, will depart her current role

Have the last few weeks seen a turning point in Boris Johnson’s premiership?  Dozens of Tories have refused to follow the prime minister’s orders in the voting lobbies on issues as diverse as sleaze and social care. Meanwhile a handful of Tory MPs have gone public with demands for change, with many more complaining in

The government is hoping the French will work with the UK on halting migrant crossings despite being disinvited from talks. Health Secretary Sajid Javid defended Boris Johnson after the prime minister tweeted out a letter he sent to French President Emmanuel Macron, which angered Paris and got Home Secretary Priti Patel disinvited from a meeting

The health secretary has said it is going to be a “great Christmas” as he defended not imposing stricter restrictions to combat the new COVID variant. Sajid Javid told Trevor Phillips On Sunday it would be “irresponsible to make guarantees” but the measures announced this week in reaction to the Omicron variant will “buy us

A government minister has defended Stanley Johnson, calling him “a gentleman” after a fellow Conservative Party MP accused the prime minister’s father of inappropriately touching her. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, said she “didn’t believe” what Caroline Nokes had accused the former MEP of. In response to the remarks, Ms Nokes said she was “sorry”

There is limited evidence that Rishi Sunak’s £2bn jobs programme for young people is working, according to a new report. The National Audit Office (NAO) watchdog warned that the government has “limited assurance” over whether the Kickstart scheme, aimed at 16 to 24-year-olds, is having any positive effect or creating high quality jobs. The government

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating. The leading Labour MP said he will be “out of action for a bit” after announcing he had tested positive on Friday morning. He did not say whether his family or members of his staff have also tested positive for COVID or

France has cancelled a meeting with the UK to discuss Channel crossings after Boris Johnson asked the French to take back migrants arriving in Britain. French interior minister Gerald Darmanin has told Home Secretary Priti Patel “she was no longer welcome” at Sunday’s European meeting on migrant issues, a French government spokesman said. Spokesman Gabriel

The French interior minister said migrants are “often attracted” to the UK’s job market after 27 people died while attempting to cross the Channel. Gerard Darmanin said that Britain, Belgium and Germany could do more to help France tackle illegal migrants and human trafficking issues. In an interview with French radio station RTL he also

The 27 people who died yesterday while attempting to cross the Channel to the UK from France included 17 men, seven women and two teenage boys and a girl, French prosecutors have said. It comes as a picture of the flimsy boat used by the group has been seen by Sky News. Following the deadliest

Sir Keir Starmer questioned whether Boris Johnson was “okay” as he accused him of introducing a “working-class dementia tax” through this week’s reform to social care funding. The Labour leader said the prime minister was fronting a “Covent Garden pickpocketing operation” over the reform that means only what individuals personally pay for their social care

Universal Credit claimants will begin to be told how changes to the benefits system will bolster their incomes ahead of Christmas – but there are warnings that millions of families will still be worse off overall. At his autumn budget last month, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate

Boris Johnson has appeared to step back from a manifesto commitment on social care, after a controversial change to his government’s reforms to the system in England were narrowly backed by MPs. The prime minister committed in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto that “nobody needing care should be forced to sell their home to pay

A requiem mass will be held at Westminster Cathedral later this morning in memory of Sir David Amess. The mass will be presided over by Cardinal Vincent Nichols and a message from Pope Francis will be read out. Sir David, a devout Catholic, will be buried in a private ceremony afterwards. Image: Pall bearers from

Opposition politicians have ridiculed Boris Johnson after he struggled to get through a keynote address to business leaders, despite claiming afterwards he thought the speech “went over well”. In the speech to the Confederation of British Industry, the prime minister praised the cartoon Peppa Pig, made car engine noises, and compared his 10-point plan for

After a bruising week for the government, with backbenchers unhappy about sleaze and watered-down rail plans, the prime minister’s authority will be tested again this week. The Health and Social Care Bill is back in the Commons and the fine-print on the social care cap has come under criticism. Under the new plans, from 2023

Sajid Javid has played down the need for more restrictions to be introduced in the coming weeks, telling Sky News that England is “firmly” in Plan A at the moment. Speaking on Trevor Phillips On Sunday, the health secretary said ministers must “remain cautious, not complacent in any way” – but said he hoped people

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has commissioned a review into possible racial bias in medical equipment as he promised to “close the chasms that the pandemic has exposed”. It comes amid fears that thousands of patients from ethnically diverse communities died from COVID-19 when they should have survived. Mr Javid referenced research that has shown that

A government review will look at how to stop migrants crossing the English Channel and entering the UK amid concern that current measures are not working. Downing Street has tasked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Stephen Barclay with bringing departments together to find a solution. More than 24,700 people have arrived in the

An ex-Conservative MP who was jailed for sexual assault has revealed he is unemployed and currently making a Universal Credit claim as he was hauled before a court over unpaid costs. Charlie Elphicke, the former Dover MP, was released from prison in September after serving half his two-year jail sentence for three sexual assaults on