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 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

The Royal College of Nursing is expected to announce today that nurses have voted to take strike action in many parts of the country. Some hospitals, not all, will take action, it is believed. The strike ballot among more than 300,000 members of the RCN was the biggest in the union’s 106-year history and marks

Sir Gavin Williamson has resigned from government over accusations of bullying, saying he will “clear [his] 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 that he shared on

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

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has sworn to get the UK off polluting fossil fuels and on to more clean power in order to secure energy supplies, bucking claims by his predecessor Liz Truss that oil and gas expansion was vital. Addressing world leaders at COP27 in Egypt on Monday, Mr Sunak will argue the “shock”

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 series of planned strikes by railway workers have been suspended, the RMT union has announced. Members were due to walk out for 24 hours on Saturday 5, Monday 7 and Wednesday 9 November. Despite today’s walkout being cancelled, Network Rail said the very late notice means that services “cannot be reinstated and will remain

Boat passengers, including British tourists, who are being held by a community group in the Peruvian Amazon will be released, according to authorities. 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

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

A Metropolitan Police officer and his former colleague have been jailed for 12 weeks for sharing grossly offensive messages in a WhatsApp group with Sarah Everard’s killer – and then bailed ahead of an appeal against their convictions. Constable Jonathon Cobban, 35, and ex-PC Joel Borders, 45, were found guilty of the offences in September.

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 looked at 11,277 police officers and staff across eight forces, examined 725 vetting files, considered 264 complaint and misconduct investigations,

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

British cyber spies have been playing a key role in defending Ukraine from widespread Russian cyber attacks since the start of the invasion, it has been confirmed. The damage caused by Russian hackers would have been “very significant” without the British assistance, Leo Docherty, a junior foreign office minister, said. He told Sky News the