Politics

The chancellor will promise to provide 30 hours of childcare a week to parents of one and two-year-olds, Sky News has learned. The multi-billion pound announcement is set to be made in tomorrow’s Budget. Families with children aged one and two do not currently receive support to cover the period after parental leave ends and

UK security minister Tom Tugendhat has asked the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to look into TikTok after governments around the world have begun banning it from their work phones. The Chinese-owned video sharing app is increasingly under the European and US microscope over security and data privacy, with concerns it could be used to

High-profile figures from sport and broadcasting appear to have poked fun at the BBC over its U-turn on the Gary Lineker impartiality row. After the corporation last Friday suspended the Match of the Day presenter, 62, for his tweets criticising the government’s migration policy, it has now agreed to allow him back on air this

Rishi Sunak has declined to offer his backing to the chairman of the BBC and stressed his appointment was made by his predecessor Boris Johnson. Richard Sharp has been dragged into the BBC row over Gary Lineker because of his close ties to government and the role he played when Boris Johnson was considering taking

British tech firms face a “serious risk” over the collapse of the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank, the chancellor has warned, but said the government was “working at pace” to limit the damage. Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Jeremy Hunt said the government and the Bank of England were “absolutely

Households on prepayment meters will no longer pay more for their energy than those on direct debits, the chancellor is expected to announce this week. The “prepayment meter penalty” will end in July, saving more than four million households around £45 a year at a cost of £200m. It will be managed through changes to

The BBC’s director general says the damage done to football programming following Gary Lineker’s suspension is a “real blow”, but he will not be resigning. Tim Davie said he was “sorry audiences have been affected and they haven’t got the programming” after presenters and pundits pulled out in support of Lineker, whose social media criticism

The first UK-France summit in five years has concluded, resulting in “unprecedented measures” to tackle illegal migration, as well as joint pledges on Ukraine and energy security. Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron have given the clearest demonstration yet of what has become dubbed “Le Bromance”, as the pair sought to draw a line under post-Brexit

Britain will payout £480m over the next three years in a deal struck between Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron to tackle small boat Channel crossings, with measures including funding for a new detention centre in France. The fresh package agreed between the prime minister and the French president to deal with the migrant crisis will

Rishi Sunak will use talks with President Emmanuel Macron to urge his French counterpart to “go further” in joint efforts to stop asylum seekers crossing the English Channel in small boats. Ahead of the summit in Paris, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly signalled more funding will be provided to the French authorities to step up beach

The government has announced the construction of sections of HS2 will be delayed by two years to save money. The high-speed railway was initially set to link London and the West Midlands with a further phase extending to cities in the North. However, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said on Thursday: “We have seen significant inflationary

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has suggested “thousands” of refugees could be sent to Rwanda under the government’s new plan to stop Channel crossings – despite no-one having been deported there since the beginning of the scheme last April The Conservative MP told Sky News’ The Take with Sophy Ridge that the partnership with the east

Boris Johnson earned 85% of all the outside pay generated by MPs this year, Sky News can reveal. The former prime minister has declared earnings of £4.8m, mostly since stepping down from Downing Street in speeches and book deals, the latest update to the Westminster Accounts by Sky News can reveal. Some £3.7m of this

Rishi Sunak’s plan to crack down on Channel migrant crossings will face the scrutiny of MPs and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today, as he faces his first Prime Minister’s Questions since the announcement of the new Illegal Migration Bill. The Conservative leader backed the “tough but fair” policy on Tuesday, after the proposed legislation

Rishi Sunak has said the crackdown on small boats crossing the Channel is needed as the current system that is being exploited is “unfair on the British people”. The prime minister described the new Illegal Migration Bill as “tough, but it is necessary and it is fair”. “This will always be a compassionate and generous

A new plan to ban refugees arriving in the UK by small boats from today from claiming asylum will push the boundaries of international law but will not break it, a senior Tory has said. Home Secretary Suella Braverman is set to publish long-promised legislation on Channel crossings on Tuesday that she has admitted “pushes