Lead News

The Labour Party would need a record swing in votes at the next general election to win a majority in the House of Commons, according to analysis of the new electoral map. The next election will be fought on new constituency boundaries, redrawn to reflect population changes and to try to even out voter numbers in each area. An analysis ...

Schools have been closed and travellers are facing disruption following snowfall across parts of the UK. Weather conditions led to more than 100 school closures in Scotland and dozens in Merseyside. Temperatures fell below freezing across the UK overnight, as biting winds continued to blow in from the north. Met Office yellow warnings for snow and ice are in place ...

Sir Keir Starmer has denied changing his position on whether the government has to give MPs a vote on any plans by the UK to take military action. The Labour leader backed the US-UK air strikes in Yemen, launched without a parliamentary vote. He told the BBC on Sunday a vote was only needed when “deploying troops”. During his leadership campaign ...

Winds from the Arctic will bring some very cold weather early next week. There will be some widespread frosts with temperatures as low as -10C (14F) in rural parts of the UK. The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for snow and ice in northern Scotland on Sunday and Monday, and Northern Ireland on Monday, with snow possible elsewhere ...

Rishi Sunak has announced the Government will introduce new laws to clear Post Office branch managers wrongly convicted in the Horizon IT scandal. He told Prime Minister’s Questions that the legislation will mean those convicted “are swiftly exonerated and compensated”. Mr Sunak was pushed to set out how the Government will acquit the hundreds of people accused of swindling money ...

Lord David Cameron has said he is “worried” Israel may have broken international law in Gaza. The foreign secretary said he regularly consulted government lawyers over incidents in the war, but refused to say whether the legal advice suggested Israel had acted illegally. Lord Cameron stressed the government had not changed its support for Israel. Since the outbreak of war ...

Labour will try to force the government to publish a string of documents relating to its Rwanda policy. The party will table a vote on Tuesday demanding ministers disclose how much it would cost to send each asylum seeker to Rwanda. The vote also demands ministers reveal cash given and set to be given to the East African country. In ...

The partner of ex-Conservative MP Peter Bone, Helen Harrison, has been selected to replace him as the Tory candidate in the Wellingborough by-election. The by-election was triggered following Mr Bone’s suspension from the House of Commons over bullying and sexual misconduct claims. Mr Bone, who was also suspended from the Conservative Party, has denied the allegations. He was elected MP ...

Rishi Sunak had significant doubts about sending migrants to Rwanda when he was chancellor, papers seen by the BBC suggest. They suggest he wanted to scale back No 10’s original plans. They also indicate Mr Sunak was not sure they would stop Channel crossings. They also suggest he was reluctant to fund reception centres to accommodate migrants instead of using ...

Hundreds of homes have been flooded in England following a powerful storm and a week of heavy rainfall. There are more than 300 flood warnings in force, the majority in the Midlands, East Anglia and southern England, with some residents forced to evacuate their properties. Flooded roads and railway tracks are bringing more delays for travellers. A major incident has ...