The government will fail to meet its asylum backlog target without a drastic increase in the processing of applications, a Sky News analysis has found. At present, there are more than 136,000 asylum applications waiting for an initial decision, including 62,000 that were made before 28 June 2022 – the so-called “legacy backlog”. In December
Politics
A pay rise of 6.5% has been accepted by a major teaching union. Members of the National Education Union (NEU) voted to accept the deal, which was made based on recommendations by the independent School Teachers’ Review Body. The NEU had advised its members to accept the deal, which also includes an extra £900m in
Donald Trump has told supporters at an influential campaign event in Iowa he is the only Republican candidate who can beat President Joe Biden. The former president took to the stage at the Lincoln Day Dinner with his main rival Ron DeSantis and several other candidates in the race to become the party’s nominee in
The Home Office has bought marquees to accommodate 2,000 migrants at disused military sites by the end of August, Sky News understands. The tents will start to be erected over the coming weeks as part of emergency plans to deal with an expected surge of Channel crossings. According to The Times, which first reported on
Wrexham AFC co-owner Ryan Reynolds has said he wants to see more film work “head to Wales” after meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The Hollywood star met with the PM at Number 10 during a break in filming for his new Deadpool movie. Reynolds recently announced a partnership with TV channel S4C which will
Apple has launched a blistering attack on government proposals that would force tech firms to clear new privacy features with the Home Office. The iPhone maker said the changes to the Investigatory Powers Act, which are under consultation, would pose a “serious and direct threat” to the security of user data. In a nine-page submission,
Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages have now been retrieved from his old phone and will be handed over to the COVID inquiry unredacted, his spokesman has said. The probe into the government’s handling of the pandemic demanded to see the former PM’s messages from the height of lockdown as part of its ongoing work. But after
Boris Johnson and Liz Truss both received £18,660 as severance payments after they stood down as prime minister, annual accounts have shown. Both leaders quit amid mounting pressure from their own MPs, but were still entitled to the payout – with Mr Johnson having served just over three years in the job and Ms Truss
Joe Biden will meet Rishi Sunak in Downing Street before having tea with King Charles during his visit to the UK. The US president touched down at Stansted Airport on Sunday evening, before he was taken by helicopter to the residence of the US ambassador in central London. Mr Biden’s stopover in Britain comes ahead
The Home Office will today launch an appeal after a court ruled its policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful. The government wants to send tens of thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles away to Rwanda as part of a £120m deal agreed with the government in Kigali last year. Politics live:
The UK’s special forces are the focus of an inquiry into allegations of unlawful activity in Afghanistan, the defence secretary has confirmed. An independent inquiry, commissioned by Ben Wallace last December, is set to focus on alleged illegal activity by British armed forces in the war-torn nation between 2010 and 2013. The probe will also
With the Bank of England trying to bring down inflation, interest rates have been raised to 5% – the highest level since April 2008. The government is now urging people to “hold their nerve”, as Rishi Sunak put it. But Britain may be headed for another “summer of discontent”, with one Treasury minister unable to
Disgraced Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier has urged her constituents not to trigger a by-election in a last-ditch attempt to avoid losing her job. The former SNP MP, who is now an independent, was convicted of putting people at risk after travelling by train to a debate at Westminster while suffering from coronavirus in 2020. She
In the end, it was excoriating, damning and unanimous: Boris Johnson was found not only to have deliberately misled the House of Commons over events in Number 10 during COVID lockdowns, but had attacked the fabric of our democracy itself by seeking to undermine the committee and investigation. The conclusion of the 14-month privileges committee
Boris Johnson has done everything he possibly could to discredit the Privileges Committee’s report on claims that he lied to MPs over partygate. But so far he has met fierce resistance. After declaring war with allegations of a “witch-hunt” and kangaroo court”, his latest attack was directed at committee member Sir Bernard Jenkin, after a
After an explosive weekend, former prime minister Boris Johnson has resigned as an MP, taking supporters Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams with him in exiting the Commons, with whispers that more may follow. It’s left his successor, Rishi Sunak, with an almighty by-election-related headache, as Westminster rolls towards the summer break. Sir Keir Starmer says
Plans for a giant cruise ship to house asylum seekers near Liverpool have been scrapped after being declined by port officials. A government source has told Sky News the vessel was due to house 500 men seeking asylum in Birkenhead, but that will no longer happen following objections from Peel Ports. Politics Live: Boris Johnson’s
It reads like a declaration of war but in reality, today’s resignation statement matters because Boris Johnson is simply throwing in the towel on his political career. Ever since he was slung out as prime minister, Mr Johnson has been a ghost at the Tory feast. Politics latest: Boris Johnson quits He sucked the oxygen out
The chair of the COVID inquiry says it is up to her to decide what evidence is “relevant or potentially relevant” amid a legal row with the government over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages. Baroness Hallett refused to withdraw her order for the government to hand over unredacted material for her investigation as she formally opened
The Home Office is launching an ad campaign in Albania aimed at deterring people from crossing the English Channel illegally. Posters bear the message that people “face being detained and removed” if they make the journey. The department would not say how much the publicity drive is expected to cost but announced it will also