UK News

Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke has defected to the Labour Party, saying the Tories “have become a byword for incompetence and division”. In a statement released just as PMQs was starting, the MP for Dover said the key factors for her decision were housing and border security. She accused Rishi Sunak of “broken promises” and abandoning key pledges. It is the ...

Rishi Sunak has dismissed calls to change course after poor local election results, arguing he can make “progress” with voters before a general election. Speaking for the first time since the full scale of Tory losses was revealed, the prime minister called losing 470 councillors “bitterly disappointing”. Tory critics have called on Mr Sunak to shift the party to the right. ...

Suella Braverman has called on Rishi Sunak to “own” the poor results for the Tories in England’s local elections. “The plan is not working,” the former home secretary said, urging the PM to “change course” and swing to the right. Ms Braverman, an MP and previous Tory leadership candidate, said there was not enough time to change leader before a ...

Britain’s governing Conservative Party suffered heavy losses in local election results Friday, further cementing expectations that the Labour Party will return to power after 14 years in a U.K. general election that will take place in the coming months. Labour won control of councils in England that the party hasn’t held for decades, and was successful in a special election ...

UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use British weapons and insisted it has the right to strike targets on Russian territory. During a visit to Kyiv, he said the UK would provide £3bn ($3.75bn) per year for as long as necessary. “Just as Russia is striking inside Ukraine, you can ...

One of the UK’s leading organisations helping victims of torture and trafficking is preparing legal action over the government’s Rwanda plan. Asylum Aid said it has urgently asked the Home Office to rethink, saying the scheme will not protect abuse victims. The Home Office has begun detaining migrants in preparation for trying to send a flight in the summer. Individual ...

Sir Keir Starmer said voters had sent Rishi Sunak a clear call for change in the last big test of public opinion before a general election. Labour took Blackpool South in a by-election by a huge margin and won target councils across England. Mr Sunak admitted results so far were “disappointing” although his party retained the Tees Valley mayoralty. Many ...

Former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station after forgetting to bring acceptable photo ID. As first reported by Sky News, he returned later with the necessary ID and was able to vote. He cast his ballot in South Oxfordshire, where voters are choosing a police and crime commissioner. New rules requiring photo ID ...

The UK has sent its first asylum seeker to Rwanda under a voluntary scheme, The Sun Newspaper reported on Tuesday, saying the unnamed migrant was flown out of the country on Monday, reports Reuters. The voluntary scheme is separate from a forced deportation programme that the UK is about to embark on in the next few months, seeking to deter ...

Hamas has been offered a 40-day ceasefire and the release of “potentially thousands” of Palestinian prisoners in return for freeing Israeli hostages, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Monday. The Palestinian group has been given “a very generous offer of sustained 40 days ceasefire, the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, in return for the release of these hostages,” ...