Today will see the first Prime Minister’s Questions of the year, with Sir Keir Starmer having to fend off questions from across the Commons – including six from Kemi Badenoch.
Wednesday 7 January 2026 06:54, UK
By Dan Whitehead, West of England and Wales correspondent
Bereaved families and the AA say the government’s long-awaited strategy to cut roads deaths does not go far enough, with “missed opportunities” to save young drivers.
The Road Safety Strategy published today includes plans for mandatory eye-tests for the over 70s, lowering the drink-drive limit in England and Wales, and to consult on a minimum learning period for new motorists of up to six months before taking a driving test.
The government says this will give learner drivers more time to develop their skills, with statistics showing nearly a quarter of deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads involve drivers aged 17-24, despite only making up around 6% of licence holders.
But campaigners say the measure falls short of what could have been achieved.
Nicole and Chris Taylor’s daughter Rebecca was just 18 when she died in a car crash in Northamptonshire in 2008.
“If the government thinks this is enough for us – it’s not enough, there’s a lot more that should have been done and can be done,” Nicole said.
Chris said he was disappointed by the strategy.
Key Whitehall departments had to answer almost twice as many questions from MPs and peers in 2025 as the year before – with AI blamed for the massive rise, Sky News can reveal.
MPs have been accused of diverting resources and wasting public money after the number of Written Parliamentary Questions (WPQs) rose to 90,331, up from 49,125 in 2024, which was close to the average for the previous decade.
The Department for Health and Social Care saw a 97% increase in questions compared with the previous year.
The Home Office saw a 92% increase, the Department for Education saw a 97% increase, and the housing department saw a 101% increase.
Submissions from some MPs surged 10 or 20-fold in the second half of 2025 compared with the same period the year before, following the general election. Just 10 MPs accounted for 20% of the Commons WPQs submitted in the second half of 2025.
These included a Lib Dem MP, Al Pinkerton, whose use increased more than 20-fold from 36 to 721, and independent MP James McMurdock, who on 2 January alone saw 342 questions tabled in his name on a range of subjects from Palestine funding to road deterioration and the UK-Italy young leaders programme.
All MPs we spoke to strongly rejected any claim that their questions waste time or are not in the public interest, and no MPs admitted to using AI in their questions.
Welcome back to the Politics Hub.
Today will see the first Prime Minister’s Questions of the year, with Sir Keir Starmer having to fend off questions from across the Commons – including six from Kemi Badenoch.
There is a smorgasbord of topics the Conservative leader could choose to pursue – from the farmer’s inheritance tax U-turn, foreign affairs or small boat numbers to name a few.
Elsewhere, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy is heading to the United States to meet with vice president JD Vance.
Despite no longer being foreign secretary, Lammy will be hoping to build on the personal relationship he built with Vance in his previous role.
The pair are set to discuss the situation in Ukraine in the first instance, but the meeting comes also at a fraught time as Donald Trump restates his desire to take Greenland from Denmark.
Speaking to Sky News this morning is transport minister Lilian Greenwood.
We’re wrapping up today’s Politics Hub.
Today saw Sir Keir Starmer pledge British troops on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.
Elsewhere, the technology secretary demanded “urgent” action from X to tackle sexualised AI images generated of people without their consent by its AI tool Grok.
While MPs also grilled West Midlands Police bosses over the decision to ban Israeli football fans from a Birmingham match in November.
Tap the key points to find out more about the stories – and you can watch the full programme below as well.
We’ll be back tomorrow – goodbye for now.
Ministers are considering introducing a minimum learning period for new drivers in England and Wales, Sky News understands.
The move, which would be subject to consultation, would be part of a wider road safety strategy being launched on Wednesday.
The government believes introducing either a three or six month learning period could save lives and reduce the number of crashes.
Almost one in four fatal and serious collisions involve a driver aged 17-24, despite this group making up just 6% of licence holders.
This period would include any informal learning somebody might do with their parents or guardians, as well as formal, paid driving lessons.
The timeframe would be between learners taking their theory test and their practical test, and that ensuring a gap would enable them to develop their driving skills in different conditions.
Earlier, we bought you the grilling of West Midlands Police bosses by MPs on the Home Affairs Committee over the decision to ban Israeli football fans from a Birmingham match in November.
Well, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has now weighed in, saying the position of the Chief Constable is “untenable”.
Writing on X, Badenoch said: “West Midlands Police capitulated to Islamists and then collaborated with them to cover it up.
“They knew extremists were planning to attack Jews for going to a football match, and their response was to blame and remove Jewish people instead. They presented an inversion of reality and misled a Parliamentary Committee.
“We have had enough of this in Britain. The Chief Constable’s position is untenable.
“The British Police serve the British public, not local sectarian interests.”
Our sports correspondent Rob Harris reported last week, West Midlands Police told a safety planning meeting that Jewish groups warned excluding Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from an Aston Villa match “could be perceived as antisemitic” – weeks before telling MPs the Jewish community backed the ban, according to documents obtained by Sky News.
You can read the full story here:
Sir Keir Starmer faced a lot of chatter about his position at the end of last year – with Labour MPs talking about replacing him and rumours of a possible leadership challenge.
Polls suggest the prime minister isn’t facing a rosier start to 2026 either. YouGov’s Westminster voting intention poll puts Labour at 17% – their joint lowest rank ever, and three points down from YouGov’s last poll.
70% of people also disapprove of the government, according to the polling company – putting the government’s net approval rating at -59.
Darren discussed this with his guests and our deputy political editor Sam Coates.
Watch them dissect the danger for Starmer below:
Earlier, technology secretary Liz Kendall said X needed to deal with sexualised images of people generated by its AI tool Grok without their consent “urgently”, and backed the regulator taking whatever enforcement action necessary.
Well, on the Politics Hub, Darren McCaffrey has been speaking to journalist Samantha Smith, who found herself the victim of fake AI-generated images on X.
Watch what Samantha had to say:
Darren’s guests are reacting to Sir Keir Starmer’s words at the Coalition of the Willing press conference.
Former Tory MP Tom Pursglove called Starmer’s announcement that British and French troops would be deployed to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal a “major step”.
He said it was now “impossible” for Donald Trump to say that Europe was not carrying the burden of its own security.
But he said we are “still a very long way away from reaching a stable peace”.
He said he’d want to see “cross-party support in this country for what the prime minister has announced this evening”.
The Lib Dems’ Christine Jardine said Europe “have to be seen to be standing together
“This sends a message to Moscow that Ukraine has the support of European nations, of NATO.”
The two agreed that the UK needs to invest in defence, even amid tight domestic budgets.
They also criticised President Trump’s threats over Greenland.
Pursglove said any aggressive takeover by the US would “totally implode” NATO.
The Politics Hub with Darren McCaffrey has just started – a little later than usual due to the Coalition of the Willing press conference – and is now live on Sky News.
Tonight, Darren and guests will discuss the Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris over security guarantees for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the government said X needs to take urgent action over sexualised images created by its AI tool Grok.
He’s also going to be hearing from a journalist who had these sort of images created of her without her consent.
On tonight’s panel is Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine, and former Tory immigration minister Tom Pursglove.
You can watch the show on the stream above, and we’ll bring you all the latest on the Politics Hub blog.
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