That’s all for today, as the saga from Peter Mandelson’s appointment continues and piles more pressure on Keir Starmer.
The prime minister is due to make a statement to MPs tomorrow in the House of Commons, which may yield more information about how Mandelson failed his security vetting.
Thanks for following along.
Our Scotland correspondent Libby Brooks has written this piece on how Scottish voters are being attracted to Reform UK, and how it reflects attitudes to immigration.
It’s Monday evening in Aberdeen, and George Preston is wearing his union flag suit to the Reform UK rally. He joined the party in 2024 as it gained ground in the north-east of Scotland with its first councillor defections from the Scottish Conservatives.
Now Preston is out leafleting for the party that polls suggest is vying with Scottish Labour to become the official opposition to the Scottish National party in the Holyrood elections on 7 May.
“Very, very few have said: ‘Have this back,’” he says. “Far more are supportive. I think Reform have found a following that was already here.”
His last point covers local politics and the national mood. The north-east of Scotland is a traditional Tory/SNP battleground, where support for Brexit was higher than anywhere else in the country and voter preoccupations align over fishing, farming, and oil and gas.
The collapse in Scottish Conservative support has left a significant gap that Reform has rapidly filled.
Read more here:
