The Latest Breaking News from Whitehall

Local authorities could be forced to approve new developments or risk giving planning control to Whitehall

A spokesperson said: “Our support for Ukraine’s independence will be clear for all to see.”

The dispute over hybrid working at the Office for National Statistics is becoming a key test of worker power, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

Manchester is closing the gap on London, with public money having helped to ‘crowd in’ a lot of private investment

Amid party divisions and issues with data, pulling existing tax levers could be a more politically palatable option

COMMENT: Party strategists are busy working out how to escape the chancellor’s doom loop of tax rises – and to crush damaging speculation about her boss’s ability to lead his party into the next general election. But the race to replace the PM may already have begun, says Andrew Grice

Giving away the Indian Ocean archipelago to the east African nation will cost £35 billion, Whitehall estimates suggest

First lady is facing increased scrutiny as political experts suggest she is behind US president’s recent volte-faces on Gaza and Putin

Exclusive: The Guardian has been told that discussions about increases include a near-certain gambling levy

The prisons crisis is symptomatic of a dysfunctional system that is defeating these ministers as badly as those before them, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle

First female head of MI5 seen as a Whitehall street fighter whose most controversial role was countering ‘subversion’