Politics

The chancellor campaigned for Waspi women to receive compensation when she was shadow pensions minister – and revealed that her own mother was affected by changes to the pension age. Rachel Reeves spoke in a Westminster Hall debate in 2016 in which she said the women hit by the increase to the state pension age

Sir Keir Starmer has nominated 30 former Labour MPs, staff and union leaders to the House of Lords. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has nominated six people, while Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has put forward two. The independent House of Lords Appointments Commission will vet the nominations before the prime minister recommends them to

Sir Keir Starmer has nominated his former top adviser Sue Gray for a peerage. Ms Gray, whose report into the partygate scandal contributed to the downfall of former prime minister Boris Johnson, is among 30 new Labour peerages announced ahead of Christmas to redress the party “imbalance” in the House of Lords. The Conservatives have

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said most Waspi women knew the state pension age was changing so it was not “the best use of taxpayers’ money to pay an expensive compensation bill”. The government revealed on Tuesday it would not be compensating millions of women born in the 1950s – called Waspi women – who say

Nigel Farage and his party treasurer have met with Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for the first time since rumours surfaced of a multi-million donation from the tech tycoon. The Reform UK leader and Nick Candy, the billionaire husband of singer Holly Valance who will take up the fundraising role for Mr Farage’s

Sir Keir Starmer has defended a decision not to compensate women affected by changes to their retirement age – saying doing so would “burden” the taxpayer. The prime minister said he understood the concerns of the Women Against State Pension Inequality – often known as Waspi women – but their demands were not affordable. He

David Cameron and George Osborne made a “massive mistake” in courting China from 2010 to 2016, Sir Iain Duncan Smith has told Sky News. The former Tory leader said the Yang Tengbo spying row proves that aspects of national security were overlooked and the UK is now paying the price. Sir Iain, who served in

Naming an alleged Chinese spy who has been linked to Prince Andrew is a “matter for the courts”, a government minster has said. Jim McMahon told Sky News that while he does not know the alleged agent’s identity, he assumes his more senior cabinet colleagues would be aware “depending on their security clearance”. Politics Live:

The prime minister is visiting Norway to launch a new green energy deal before attending a defence summit in Estonia. Sir Keir Starmer will travel to a carbon capture and storage site and meet his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store to discuss the new Green Industrial Partnership. Number 10 said both leaders intend to sign

The shadow home secretary said he is “deeply concerned” about allegations of Chinese spies in the UK and warned those in public life to be “extremely vigilant”. Chris Philp told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme the Chinese Communist Party has been “engaging in organised and systemic attempts to influence political life” for

Reform UK would be “delighted” to accept donations from billionaire Elon Musk, according to its deputy leader Richard Tice.  He told Sky News political correspondent Serena Barker-Singh Mr Musk recognises Reform is “the party of common sense”. His comments come days after Reform UK’s treasurer revealed he had spoken to Elon Musk. There had previously

Ed Miliband does not regret voting against the UK taking military action in Syria in 2013, he has told Sky News. His comments to Sky’s breakfast presenter Anna Jones come following the collapse of the Bashar al Assad regime in the region. Back in 2013, when Mr Miliband was Labour leader, UK MPs voted against

There’s a reason previous governments baulked at the net zero challenge – it’s absolutely colossal, something Labour’s new Clean Power 2030 plan lays bare. Offshore wind generating capacity, which has taken 20 years to reach 14.8GW, must more than triple to about 50GW within just six years. The plan calls for a tripling of solar

Nobody doubts the level of ambition Keir Starmer is showing on housing. But will it work? That’s unclear. The prime minister acknowledges that 1.5m homes in this parliament is the hardest of his milestones to meet. Today’s plan tries to inject pressure on one corner of the system – the role of planning involving local

Reform UK could replace the Conservatives as the second largest party at the next election, Baroness Harman has predicted. The Labour peer and former deputy leader said Nigel Farage’s party “seem to have an argument and they seem to know what it is”. Speaking to Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harman said

A baroness has been recommended for three weeks’ suspension from the House of Lords for calling a peer “Lord Poppadom” and touching an MP’s braids without her permission. Baroness Catherine Meyer is accused of referring to Lord Dholakia as “Lord Poppadom” twice during a taxi journey while on a visit to Rwanda with parliament’s Joint

Sir Keir Starmer says there are “questions to be answered” over the murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, as a report reveals hundreds of children died or were seriously harmed by abuse in one year.  New findings published a day after Sara’s father and stepmother were found guilty of her murder show more than 480 children in

The government is today demanding “immediate, mandatory” housing targets from councils as part of its plans to build 1.5 million houses by the next general election. During its election campaign Labour promised to build swathes of new housing to address lack of affordability and supply. And it will today release its latest version of the

The government has called on “disruptors, innovators and creative thinkers” to help make the civil service more productive. Senior minister Pat McFadden said he wants Whitehall to have more of a “start-up” mentality as he cited Airbnb, Whatsapp and Spotify as examples of the mindset the civil service should take on to be more productive

The UK government could remove the group that led the Syrian rebellion from its list of banned terror organisations, a senior minister has told Sky News. Pat McFadden told Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley a decision would be made “quickly” about whether to take Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) off the proscribed terror list. Syria