UK

Energy suppliers have agreed to end the forced installation of prepayment meters in vulnerable customers’ homes, the government has said. The move comes as an investigation revealed debt collectors working for British Gas forced their way into the homes of vulnerable customers. An undercover investigation by The Times claimed a company used by British Gas

An exclusive Sky News/Ipsos poll has found that young people are feeling increasingly lonely – with the cost of living crisis leading many to take on extra work, move in with their parents and cut back on socialising. The poll, conducted in December, found 37% of 18 to 24-year-olds felt lonelier this winter than they

The Church of England has voted in favour of a motion to offer blessings to same sex-couples in civil partnerships and marriages. A near-eight-hour debate across two days ended in a vote for the motion on Thursday at a meeting of the General Synod – the church’s parliament. The Synod’s three houses all voted overwhelmingly

Russian officials have attacked Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “hasty” visit to Europe – dismissing his speech to MPs in Westminster as “theatrical”. The Ukrainian president made a surprise appearance in London, where he urged the UK and Western allies to provide “wings for freedom” by supplying advanced jets. Mr Zelenskyy then travelled to Paris for talks over

Boris Johnson has declared a nearly £2.5m advance payment for speaking events, bringing his earning this parliament up to £4.8m. The former PM’s latest update to the MPs’ register of interests showed he received £2,488,387.53 as an advance for speeches arranged via the Harry Walker Agency. The Harry Walker speaking agency has other high-profile clients

A key milestone of King Charles’s reign has come as Royal Mail unveiled stamps bearing his profile. The image of the King featured on first and second class stamps has been revealed as a simple profile image, showing his head and neck in the style of the late Queen, and all British monarchs since Queen

Detectives say they are looking at 500 active pieces of information in the search for mother-of-two Nicola Bulley – and have not found “anything of note” yet. Lancashire Police remains “fully open-minded” and have not yet detected a “suspicious element”, said Superintendent Sally Riley. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Supt Riley said her

A serving police officer who was raped by David Carrick has said she didn’t report it to the Met because her colleagues would have “laughed” and it would have been “the end of my career”. The woman was one of Carrick’s earliest victims and didn’t tell any friends or other officers about the rape. The

Nurses leaders have issued a direct appeal to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to intervene in their pay dispute. As the NHS faces its biggest day of industrial action in history, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Pat Cullen said that a “meaningful” pay offer from the government could still avert striking. In a letter

Police searching for Nicola Bulley have found a “key” witness who they believe was in the area on the morning of the mother-of-two’s disappearance. The witness is a woman who was seen pushing a pram on Friday 27 January, when Ms Bulley went missing. The woman was spotted on CCTV walking in the Lancashire village

The German automotive giant BMW is in talks with the government about a £75m funding package that would secure production of electric Minis at its Oxfordshire plant. Sky News has learnt that BMW is negotiating with officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) over a grant from Whitehall’s Automotive Transformation Fund.

Police searching for missing mother-of-two Nicola Bulley have vowed to “bring her home” as they called on members of the public to keep a look out for sightings of her clothes. Officers believe the 45-year-old “sadly” fell into the River Wyre while she was walking her dog last Friday morning. Search teams from Lancashire Constabulary

Police investigating the disappearance of a mother-of-two say they believe she “sadly” fell into a river as they focus on a 10-minute window when she went missing a week ago. Nicola Bulley, 45, vanished in Lancashire while out walking her dog last Friday morning after dropping off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school.

The number of people in the UK diagnosed with cancer will rise by a third by 2040, taking the number of new cases every year to more than half a million, figures show. If current trends continue, cancer cases will rise from the 384,000 per year now to 506,000 in 2040, according to Cancer Research

South Wales Police are investigating “abusive and grossly offensive” messages sent to a Labour MP after she spoke out against controversial influencer Andrew Tate. Alex Davies-Jones revealed on Tuesday she had been “bombarded with death and rape threats” following her remarks about Tate’s influence on young people, saying they were “being brainwashed online by his

Four-year-old Alice Stones was killed by her family pet, police officers have confirmed. Thames Valley police said an investigation was under way but they believe it was a “tragic, isolated incident”. Officers and medical personnel were called to a house in the Broadlands area of Netherfield at around 5pm on Tuesday but the girl died

Police chiefs have promised to acknowledge mistakes and not “defend the indefensible” as they set out long-awaited reforms in the wake of a report into the Hillsborough disaster. Among the changes is a Charter For Families Bereaved Through Public Tragedy, which commits police leaders to acknowledge any mistakes and ensure “care, compassion, openness, transparency and

Coastal homes worth a total of almost £600m could be lost and consumed by the sea in England by 2100, according to a climate action group. One Home identified 21 at-risk villages and hamlets and estimated how much coast could be lost there. Coastal erosion is the process by which land is worn away or

A major search is under way to find a 45-year-old woman from Inskip, Lancashire, who vanished while walking her dog. Nicola Bulley was last seen three days ago – on Friday 27 January – at around 9.15am on a towpath by the River Wyre off Garstang Road in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre.

Boris Johnson has claimed Vladimir Putin threatened to kill him with a missile in a call ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The former prime minister has alleged the Russian leader told him “I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute” in an “extraordinary” conversation which took