UK

Five days after being smuggled into the UK in a lorry, Albanian Iva Memaj dialled the Home Office’s freephone number to claim asylum. “I feel very excited for my future,” she told us. “I feel safe here.” Iva said she ran from the lorry when it got to England, hid and was then picked up

Kwasi Kwarteng claims he told Liz Truss to “slow down” after the market crashing mini-budget was announced. The ex-chancellor, who was sacked by the then-prime minister, told TalkTV’s First Edition programme: “She said, ‘Well, I’ve only got two years’ and I said, ‘You will have two months if you carry on like this’.” Mr Kwarteng

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

A man has been sentenced to a further 15 years in prison – in addition to the 18 he has already served – for setting his partner on fire and causing her death 21 years later. Steven Craig, 58, covered Jacqueline Kirk in petrol and set her alight in a car park in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

Boy George has revealed his mother was in hospital during the pandemic and said if she had not survived he would have quit I’m A Celebrity when Matt Hancock entered the jungle. The Culture Club singer was in tears after the former health secretary, who was booted out of the Conservative Party over his decision

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

Rishi Sunak will face PMQs this afternoon – hours after his ally Sir Gavin Williamson quit over bullying claims. The prime minister’s judgement is being questioned after he emerged that he appointed Sir Gavin to a senior role despite being aware of an investigation related to his behaviour. Sir Gavin’s departure as Cabinet Office minister

Labour has called on Rishi Sunak to block Boris Johnson’s “conveyer belt of cronies” resignation peerages. Scotland Secretary Alister Jack, former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, former minister Nigel Adams and the outgoing COP26 President Alok Sharma are among those expected to be nominated by the former prime minister to be elevated to the House of

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),

Rishi Sunak will call for a “global mission for new jobs and clean growth” as he joins world leaders for the first day of COP27 in Egypt. The PM, who only announced he would be attending the climate change talks in a U-turn last week, will tell attendees today it is essential countries stick to

English and Welsh football leaders insist they will continue to campaign on human rights issues and compensation for migrant workers in Qatar after FIFA told World Cup teams to keep politics and lectures on morality out of the tournament. The FIFA leadership issued the plea to “focus on the football” in a letter revealed exclusively

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, are being held by a community group in the Peruvian Amazon, local media has said. 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. Seventy passengers,

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 since the 1980s today. A hike of 0.75 percentage points is anticipated – pushing the base rate to 3%, levels that have not been seen since 2008. If confirmed, this could push up mortgage bills for millions of people in the coming

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. Met constable Jonathon Cobban, 35, and former PC Joel Borders, 45, were found guilty of the offences