The mood inside the headquarters of Cheshire East council was dark. Sam Corcoran, the normally amiable leader, did not want to watch Rishi Sunak’s speech. “What’s the point?” grumbled the Labour councillor. “He’s already trailed what he’s going to say. It’s a disgrace.”
He was cajoled into watching a bit regardless, eating his packed lunch as he sat through Akshata Murty’s fawning introduction – “this is torture” he groaned – before the prime minister stood up in front of a slogan promising “long-term decisions for a brighter future” and cancelled the project Corcoran and colleagues had spent the best part of a decade pinning their hopes on.
