White House confirms date of Starmer visit - as ex-PM calls for 'Trump revolution' in Britain

Northern Ireland's first minister to boycott White House's St Patrick's Day celebrations

The leadership of Sinn Fein has announced that they will boycott the traditional St Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House due to Donald Trump's stance on Gaza.

Northern Ireland's first minister Michelle O'Neill made the announcement at a news conference in Dublin alongside party president Mary Lou McDonald.

She said the decision "has not been taken lightly", but added: "It is taken very conscious of the responsibility that each of us have as individuals to call out injustice when we see it.

"We are all heartbroken whenever we witness the suffering of the Palestinian people, and the recent comments by the US president around the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza is just simply something that I cannot ignore."

McDonald posted a video on X to say that she had been following the US president's comment on Gaza with "growing concern".

She said she had listened in "horror" to his calls for "mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from their homes and the permanent seizure of Palestinian lands".

"Such an approach is a fundamental breach of international law, is deeply destabilising in the Middle East and a dangerous departure from the UN position of peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis and the right of Palestinians to self-determination," she added.

Electoral Dysfunction: A pact between Farage and Kemi?

What could a pact between Nigel Farage's Reform UK party and Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives look like? Are we about to see the Tory party lurch closer to the right?

Beth, Ruth and Harriet answer this and more, as they go through your questions – which means we also get the backstory to the iconic Beth Rigby red lipstick.

And how difficult is it being married to an MP? We hear from Ruth's partner Jen about their lives in the spotlight when Ruth was the leader of the Scottish Conservatives.

Trump should be applauded for seeking to end Ukraine war, Farage tells Sky News

Nigel Farage is in Washington for a conservative conference and our US correspondent James Matthews managed to track him down.

The Reform leader told James he "applauds Trump" for his efforts to bring the war in Ukraine to an end, despite having gone over the heads of Kyiv and Europe to open talks with Vladimir Putin.

"He promised to talk to Putin, and he is," Farage said.

"There's going to be a deal and let's hope there's going to be peace," he added, and repeated Trump's suggestion that Ukraine hold an election.

"He promised to talk to Putin, and he is."

'Take Trump seriously, not literally'

He disagreed with the US president's claim that Zelenskyy is "a dictator", but did rather seek to explain the comment - which attracted considerable outrage and criticism - away.

"If that's what he thinks, that's what he thinks," he said.

"Take everything Trump says truthfully, but not literally."

He accused the media of being "hung up on the use of a word", rather than the "peace process".

Starmer meets Trump - but how does he prepare?

Sophy Ridge takes over the Sky News Daily ahead of Sir Keir Starmer's meeting with Donald Trump next week. 

The prime minister will have a tightrope to walk as the potential bridge between the White House and an out-of-favour Europe. 

Joining Sophy is Gabriel Pogrund, Whitehall editor of The Sunday Times and co-author of Get In: The Inside Story Of Labour Under Starmer, to discuss how he might navigate the Trump tightrope and what the PM's team is doing to prepare for their meeting. 

Lib Dems call for tax hike on tech giants to boost defence spending

Sir Ed Davey is calling on the government to raise taxes on tech giants to reach spending of 2.5% of GDP "as soon as possible" due to "Donald Trump's betrayal" of allies.

The Liberal Democrats are proposing hiking the Digital Services Tax from 2% to 10% to raise the money needed.

The tax is levied on large multinational companies that make money from UK web users. They include social media companies, search engines, and online marketplaces.

The tax, introduced under the Tories in 2020, currently stands at 2%, but setting it at 10% would raise an extra £3.3bn in the coming fiscal year, and would rise to £4.5bn a year by 2029/30, the party says.

'We cannot afford not to'

Davey is also demanding that the PM holds cross-party talks to establish a consensus about how to reach spending of 3% of GDP on defence.

He said in a statement: "Donald Trump's stitch-up with Putin amounts to a betrayal of Ukraine, the UK and all our allies. It is clear: we are living in a new and dangerous world. We must respond.

"To ensure that Great Britain is protected against Russia and able to provide the leadership which our continent needs in the absence of the US, we must increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP as soon as possible."

The Lib Dem leader added that the UK "simply cannot afford not to do this", declaring that "our national security is at stake".

No sign Russia has 'appetite' for peace, says foreign secretary

David Lammy has been speaking to the media after a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in South Africa.

He said the UK will be a "bridge" between the US and Europe during Ukraine peace negotiations, and reiterated the government's view that Kyiv must also have a role.

But he said he doubted whether Russia has "an appetite to really get to that peace".

Moscow has so far dismissed Sir Keir Starmer's idea for European peacekeeping forces to be deployed in Ukraine, as well as the chance of NATO membership or giving back any territory.

And it continues to bombard Ukraine in the meantime.

"We've not got anywhere near a negotiated settlement," said Lammy, following initial talks between US and Russian officials.

Parents should not pay extra to access free childcare, government says

Parents who are entitled to free childcare should not have to pay mandatory extra charges to secure a nursery place, the government has said.

Updated guidance from the Department for Education states that while nurseries are entitled to ask parents to pay for extras – including meals, snacks, nappies or sun cream – these fees must be voluntary rather than compulsory.

The guidance, which comes amid concerns that parents are facing high additional charges on top of the funded hours, also states that local councils should intervene if a childcare provider seeks to make additional charges a condition for parents accessing their hours.

Since September last year, parents and carers with children aged nine months and older have been entitled to 15 hours of government-funded childcare a week, rising to 30 hours for three to four-year-olds.

From this September, the 30 hours of care will be made available to all families - a rollout that was first introduced under the previous Conservative government.

However, there have been concerns that in order to subsidise shortfalls in funding, nurseries have charged parents extra for essentials that would normally have been included in fees.

-SKY NEWS