First minister admits mistake over official’s appointment but rejects ‘absurd’ idea of plot against predecessor Nicola Sturgeon has rejected the “absurd” allegation the Scottish government plotted to destroy Alex Salmond’s reputation but admitted it made serious mistakes in its investigation into complaints against him. The first minister said her government […]

First minister was given legal advice about significant potential conflict of interest but case continued Nicola Sturgeon faces calls to resign after previously secret legal advice and new witness evidence raised fresh questions over whether Scotland’s first minister misled parliament about the Alex Salmond crisis. On Tuesday evening the Scottish […]

Rishi Sunak will also announce help for an additional 600,000 of the newly self-employed on Wednesday Rishi Sunak will announce on Wednesday that the Treasury is extending its furlough scheme until the end of September in an attempt to safeguard jobs as a fragile economy emerges from the Covid-19 emergency. […]

Advanced Research & Innovation Agency will be exempt from existing procurement rules for ‘maximum flexibility’, says government A new £800m government science and defence research agency will be exempt from existing procurement rules, prompting warnings from Labour that it could be used as “cover for cronyism”. Originally the brainchild of […]

Iconic country music star sings a vaccine version of Jolene while getting inoculated in Nashville Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Dolly Parton has been inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccine that she helped to fund. The country music star, 75, broke into song while getting the Moderna […]

Study shows single dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine cuts risk of serious illness by more than 80% Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage The Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is slightly more effective than that of Pfizer/BioNTech on some measures, the health secretary has said as he seized […]