UK

The UK economy contracted by 0.2% in the third quarter, early official figures show – prompting the chancellor to warn that the “tough road ahead” will require “extremely difficult decisions”. The figure marked the first step towards recession. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a dip in output for September, leaving gross domestic product

Food banks are being driven to “breaking point” with almost 1.3 million emergency parcels given to people in just over six months, a leading charity has said. Almost half a million of the food parcels given out went to children. The Trussell Trust issued a stark warning after new research showed record-breaking levels of need,

A police officer has been injured in a collision involving two lorries while responding to Just Stop Oil protests taking place on the M25. Essex Police said one person has been arrested for causing a public nuisance for protesting on the motorway, though the cause of the accident is unclear. The force said a police

A nursing union representing hundreds of thousands of nurses has voted to hold the first nationwide strike in its 106-year history. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said the strike will affect the majority of NHS employers in the UK as nurses take action against pay levels and patient safety concerns. The union said that

Sir Gavin Williamson has resigned from government over accusations of bullying, saying he will “clear my name of any wrongdoing”. His departure came shortly after an ex-civil servant, who claimed Sir Gavin told them to “slit your throat”, made a formal complaint against the Cabinet Office minister. In his resignation letter shared on Twitter, Sir

A contentious plan to build a new royal yacht has been scrapped, the defence secretary has confirmed. The successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was expected to cost around £200m, was announced by Boris Johnson in May 2021. Mr Johnson, the prime minister at the time, said it would reflect “the UK’s burgeoning status

Millions of Britons on low incomes will start receiving £324 into their bank accounts today to help them through the cost of living crisis. The payments are the second part of a £650 sum being paid out to people receiving benefits such as Universal Credit, income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), income-related employment and support allowance (ESA),

Business Secretary Grant Shapps has hinted that the government may extend the windfall tax on oil and gas companies in this month’s autumn budget as it tries to stabilise the UK’s public finances. Speaking to Sky News with just 10 days to go before the government’s fiscal plans are unveiled, Mr Shapps said: “I mean,

A farmer from Eritrea who was in the Manston processing centre in Kent has told Sky News he slept on cardboard and was given cold hot dogs for lunch. The 29-year-old, who asked to be referred to as Samuel, said it wasn’t what he was expecting after crossing the Channel by small boat in September

Ed Miliband has called for an “urgent independent investigation” into Sir Gavin Williamson’s reappointment after it was alleged that the cabinet minister sent abusive text messages to former chief whip Wendy Morton complaining that he and other colleagues had been excluded from the Queen’s funeral for political reasons. Speaking on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on

The chief constable of South Yorkshire Police has offered to meet a young woman who was groomed and abused by a gang of paedophiles in Sheffield 10 years ago – after she alleged to Sky News that a police officer was one of her abusers. Leona Whitworth, 28, has waived her anonymity to tell her

A group of people at a west London immigration removal centre caused “disturbance” on Saturday morning, the Home Office has claimed. No one was injured during the incident at Harmondsworth detention centre near Heathrow Airport, but the power was still out just before 9am on Saturday, the department said. The Home Office initially claimed that

Boat passengers, including British tourists, are understood to have been released after being held by a community group in the Peruvian Amazon. The group, thought to be from an indigenous community, said they had detained them in protest over a lack of government action to tackle oil spills in a river, according to RPP Noticias.

Children as young as nine are getting sucked into drug dealing and violence – with thousands of young people in England “groomed, harmed and even killed”, a new report warns. The Commission on Young Lives is calling for urgent action and investment to tackle the “national threat to our country’s prosperity and security” – and

The Bank of England has raised the base rate of interest by 0.75 percentage points to 3% – the single biggest increase in more than three decades – and said that the UK is already in recession. The Bank warned that the UK could face a protracted contraction in the coming years, with high inflation

The Bank of England is expected to unveil the biggest interest rate rise in decades today. A rise of 0.75 percentage points is anticipated, the biggest since 1992 – pushing the base rate to 3%, a level not seen since 2008. If confirmed, this could push up mortgage bills for millions of people in the

The Home Office is facing a judicial review over the conditions at the migrant Manston processing centre, the immigration minister has told Sky News. Robert Jenrick said the legal action has begun after reports of severe overcrowding at the centre in Kent, which is meant to hold 1,600 people but has been housing about 4,000

Hundreds – if not thousands – of police officers who should have failed vetting checks may be serving in England and Wales, a watchdog has warned. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services found cases where criminal behaviour was dismissed as a “one off”; applicants with links to “extensive criminality” in their families

Boris Johnson has told Sky News that he does not think Vladimir Putin will use a tactical nuclear weapon in his war in Ukraine. There have been suggestions that the Russian president could carry out such a military strike as his forces continue to lose territory which they captured earlier in the invasion. But in

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has rejected language used by the home secretary describing the increase of asylum seekers to the UK as an “invasion”. Suella Braverman told MPs yesterday that the public needs to know which party is serious about “stopping the invasion” of migrants on the southern coast of the UK. Mr Jenrick, when