Chris Smyth

Rishi Sunak will end the “national scandal” of two million people who are out of work by forcing more benefits claimants to look for jobs, under plans announced in the autumn statement.

Under the changes, to be revealed on Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of people with mobility and mental-health problems will be told to look for work that they can do from...

Rishi Sunak wanted to “just let people die” during discussions of a second lockdown in 2020, according to extracts from Sir Patrick Vallance’s diary.

The former chief scientific adviser also said that Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out policy spread Covid and unilaterally reversed public health messaging.

Vallance said he was not consulted about the policy and would...

Rishi Sunak has compared Labour’s “dangerous” green investment plans to the “unfunded spending” decisions made by Liz Truss, as he put the economy at the centre of the Tory election campaign.

In a direct attack on his predecessor, the prime minister hit out at the major “economic mistake” made in last year’s mini-budget.

He argued that Labour’s vow to spend...

Rishi Sunak argued against a second lockdown and, like Boris Johnson, thought it was OK if people died, according to a diary entry by Sir Patrick Vallance.

In the entry for October 25, 2020 the then chief scientific officer noted that Dominic Cummings had relayed the view of the then chancellor to people at a meeting. It read: “DC says ‘Rishi thinks just let...

A Treasury minister has slapped down a cabinet colleague and insisted that winter fuel allowances for pensioners will not be means-tested.

Gareth Davies, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, insisted that Rishi Sunak was “not going to be touching” pensioner benefits after a senior colleague suggested that wealthier older people should not get annual fuel...

The architect of Sweden’s light-touch pandemic policy told Britain that it needed to do more to tackle the coronavirus, Sir Patrick Vallance is expected to tell the Covid inquiry on Monday.

The former chief scientific adviser’s testimony is expected to corroborate that of Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s adviser, who said that before England’s second...

When the Supreme Court’s judgment on the government’s Rwanda migration scheme was revealed at 10am on Wednesday morning, the reaction in Downing Street was one of fury.

The ruling was in line with the worst-case scenario envisaged by Rishi Sunak’s government. In the space of 56 pages the court comprehensively destroyed the plans, highlighting fundamental...

Jeremy Hunt has pledged to tackle inefficient public services and rein in the welfare bill to make room for tax cuts as he says the economy has “turned the corner”.

The chancellor hinted at cuts to business tax as he promised an “autumn statement for growth” next week that is expected to overhaul the planning system to fast-track pylons and other energy...

Benefit claimants who refuse to look for a job will lose their right to free NHS prescriptions, dental care and help with energy bills under a “whole-state” approach to forcing people back to work.

Sick notes will be approved by the benefits system rather than doctors in a trial in which patients will be treated by therapists working for the Department for...

Civil servants will be ordered to spend at least three days a week in the office in the first central Whitehall guidance on working from home.

Senior staff and those at the start of their careers will be expected to come in more often as Rishi Sunak’s government insists that too much working from home is bad for delivery.

Top officials and those heading big...

Rishi Sunak has told European judges that he will do “whatever is necessary” to get flights to Rwanda off the ground by the next election after he lost a critical legal battle over the government’s migration policy.

The prime minister insisted he would “not allow a foreign court to block these flights” as he left the door open to leaving the European...

Rishi Sunak has warned European judges that he will do “whatever is necessary” to get flights to Rwanda off the ground by the next election, after he lost a critical legal battle over the government’s flagship migration policy.

The prime minister insisted he would “not allow a foreign court to block these flights” as he said he would revisit Britain’s...

The Supreme Court’s judgment represents a potentially fatal setback for the government’s plans to send migrants to Rwanda. On two key points, the ruling offers potentially insurmountable challenges to Rishi Sunak.

First, the judgment suggests that the Rwandan asylum system is ultimately not fit for purpose. So damning are the court’s critiques that it is hard...

Jeremy Hunt is eyeing £2 billion of further welfare savings as he banks £4 billion from previous benefit reforms to help fund tax cuts next week.

The chancellor is considering using October’s inflation figure to set the increase for working-age benefits next year, instead of the September figure traditionally used, as he tries to find room for manoeuvre in...

The new environment secretary is married to a water company senior executive, provoking fresh claims of conflicts of interest at the top of government.

Steve Barclay, who was moved from his job as health secretary in this week’s reshuffle, finds widespread public anger about sewage pollution by water companies at the top of his in-tray.

His wife, Karen Barclay...

The head of the NHS has hit out at the “misunderstanding” that the health service is becoming less productive and insisted that figures used by government do not show the improvements she is making.

Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, said that productivity figures were “a blunt tool” that ignored improvements in diagnostic services and...

It was one of the most closely guarded secrets in Westminster. A week ago David Cameron met Rishi Sunak in his Downing Street flat to discuss the future. Sunak, who is struggling to make a dent in Labour’s poll lead, had a simple proposition: would Cameron like to return to frontline politics as foreign secretary?

After sounding out his closest political...

David Cameron became the first former prime minister in more than 50 years to return to frontline politics as Rishi Sunak sought to revive his own fortunes with a dramatic reshuffle.

Sunak appointed Cameron as foreign secretary while sacking Suella Braverman as home secretary for failing to act as a “team” player. He promoted younger loyalist ministers to...

Rishi Sunak appointed the former prime minister in a reshuffle of his top team after sacking Suella Braverman as home secretary.

James Cleverly, the former foreign secretary, replaces Braverman with Cameron coming back to government to take the vacant role at the Foreign Office. Cameron is being given a peerage to take up...

Victoria Atkins says the NHS is one of the reasons she came into politics, but the new health secretary has little direct experience of a key public service which will be central to the next election.

Atkins arrives at the Department of Health and Social Care from the Treasury, where she was financial secretary, and arguably her main task in the new job will...