Summary of the day …
We will shortly be closing the blog for the day. Here are the headlines …
Rishi Sunak said his government would give a “considered” response to a report saying Waspi women deserved compensation, without promising when any response could be expected. Leading campaigner Angela Madden said he was on a “sticky wicket” asking for votes from the women affected unless “he heeds the clear instructions of the ombudsman that Waspi women should be compensated”. Labour’s Emily Thornberry said they would await the government response before making any committment themselves.
Sunak was in Derbyshire launching the Tory local election campaign for England and Wales, in which the government are expected to suffer heavy losses. He criticised local Labour councils for failing to balance their books after over a decade of Conservative governments reducing central funding to local councils.
The prime minister, who was appointed to the role by the Conservative party seven weeks after losing a leadership contest to Liz Truss, urged voters to send a message to Keir Starmer during May’s local elections. Sunak said the Labour leader was “arrogantly taking the British people for granted” and “assuming that he can just stroll into Number 10 without saying what he would do”.
Environment secretary Steve Barclay has come under scrutiny for failing to declare a potential conflict of interest over a proposed waste incineration plant in his constituency. The minister has now recused himself from the process, but No 10 refused to say when that had happened.
A private member’s bill by a Conservative MP, backed by the government, which was attempting to overturn London’s elected mayor’s Ulez expansion team failed to pass a second reading in the House of Commons.
Plaid Cymru have begun their spring conference. Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth has attacked both the current government and any future Labour government for failing to provide the investment he says Wales needs. He said “a new Welsh first minister coupled with a likely Starmer-led government in Westminster” would lead to “more stagnation, more managerialism, more cuts to public services”
Former Channel Islands data commissioner Emma Martins will lead the external review into the use of WhatsApp and mobile messaging in the Scottish government.
Thank you for all your comments today. I do try to read them all and find them helpful. I hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
Zoe Williams is on sketching duties today while we wish John Crace all the best with his recovery. She watched Rishi Sunak’s English local election campaign launch in Derbyshire:
Rishi Sunk wanted to talk about Labour-run councils – Nottingham, “effectively bankrupt”. After having a fire-sale of assets, they still can’t balance the books, in contrast to the extraordinarily well-run Conservative Nottinghamshire county council; Birmingham, and the scandal of its bankruptcy. A 21% rise in council tax for residents, decimated services, mismanaged finances.
I find it quite hard to imagine anyone being taken in by this. Everyone knows that local authorities have taken savage hits to their spending power, due to cuts by central government. Say what you like about the Conservative party and their messaging, everyone is reasonably clear on one thing: that austerity was their idea.
Nobody’s going to need more councils, of varying political hues, also going bust, to realise that the problem is a little more systemic. Every local authority is now like Schrödinger’s cat: it could be alive or dead, but if you open the box and look in, it’s dead. This is Sunak’s unlovely task of 2024, to keep the box closed until he’s out of office.
Read more of Zoe Williams’ sketch here: On the buses with Rishi Sunak, we see only side-streets and diversions
