A truly equitable country is still some way off despite recent successes at the very top

As Rishi Sunak called Humza Yousaf to congratulate the new SNP leader, dozens of South Asian family WhatsApp groups shared memes asking whether the British Indian prime minister and the Scottish Pakistani first minister would be negotiating the partition of Britain.

Yousaf, as first minister of Scotland, is the first Muslim national leader in any western democracy of predominantly Christian heritage. The image of Yousaf leading prayers as he and his family broke their Ramadan fast, on his first night at the official Bute House residence, was warmly received, except by a surly fringe. Some noted that his Presbyterian rival, Kate Forbes, may have had a very different response to praying publicly.

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Going after minor misdeeds will add to police workloads and likely fuel vigilantism

What happens when the human instinct to hunt down wrongdoers is encouraged to bloom and spread beyond the bounds of an ordinary justice system – the sort with clear rules about right and wrong – and which crimes might be more serious than others?

You don’t have to look far for an example. The wild west of social media has produced exactly this sort of pseudo law and order system – now known as “cancel culture”. The experiment has not, to put it mildly, worked well.

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Justice secretary, who denies bullying allegations, oversaw a toxic atmosphere, ex-staffer says

Dominic Raab is “100% a bully”, and also took no steps to intervene in bullying by others, a former Foreign Office official has said in the latest accusations against the justice secretary and former foreign secretary.

The claims, reported by ITV News, came as Rishi Sunak declined to say why an independent inquiry into Raab’s behaviour had not yet reported back after more than four months, or if he would sack Raab if it uncovered misconduct.

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Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have both pledged to crack down on antisocial behaviour. But policing social problems won’t make them go away

Politicians have been calling for a return to neighbourhood policing ever since Theresa May decimated the service. This week, Rishi Sunak put forward plans for “hotspot” patrols as part of a draconian crackdown on fly-tipping and laughing gas (nitrous oxide). Days earlier, Keir Starmer called for “ more visible neighbourhood policing ” to fight the “virus” of antisocial behaviour. In 2021, Boris Johnson proposed that every neighbourhood in England and Wales have a named police officer whom residents could contact.

This recognition that police have become inaccessible to the communities they serve is an indictment of Conservative policies. Neighbourhood policing, introduced by New Labour, assigned one sergeant, two constables and two police community support officers to each council ward. In cutting police funding , Mrs May destroyed this model. The Met lost two-thirds of its special constables and half of its support officers after 2010. It closed 126 police stations and merged 32 command units into just 12. Places where people could report crimes in person have been lost, together with the local knowledge of experienced officers. Across England and Wales, over 22,000 officers left the force after 2010.

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Employment experts say proposals are ‘departure from established norms and treaty obligations’

Rishi Sunak’s new anti-trade union legislation would make the UK one of the most difficult countries in the democratic world in which to go on strike and may breach treaty obligations, a group of top employment lawyers have said.

The 10 academic experts in employment law said the proposed laws to enforce “ minimum service levels ” in sectors such as health, transport and schools would make the UK an “international outlier” among comparable countries.

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PM’s ratings exceed those of his party, which is defending four in 10 seats up for grabs in English council elections

Amid a flurry of stump speeches and cringe-inducing stunts, two of the main political parties launched their local council election campaigns this week with the sort of media-focused flourish you would expect for such occasions.

At a community hub in Swindon, an area Labour hopes to take on 4 May, Keir Starmer was introduced by his deputy, Angela Rayner, as “the next British prime minister”, rolling up his shirt sleeves to tell placard-waving activists they should be “hungry for change”.

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Lib Dems criticise ‘shocking waste of taxpayers’ money’ as Cabinet Office document reveals PM’s flight costs

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Rishi Sunak took private jet trips costing almost £500,000 in just over a week last year, government data has shown, prompting opposition claims that he is out of touch and unable to lead on green issues.

A Cabinet Office document detailing overseas prime ministerial travel in the third quarter of 2022 showed No 10 spent just under £108,000 on private jet travel to and from the Cop27 summit in Egypt, flying in on 6 November and returning the next day.

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