Steerpike

Oh dear. As the furore around Scotland’s Hate Crime Act extends into its sixth day, there are now fears about police spending as the force looks set to struggle with the sheer volume of complaints. It is understood that, since the Act was implemented on Monday, 40 officers a day have been required to work overtime to help tackle reports. With officers being paid time and a third for working extra hours, there are concerns about overstretching the Police Scotland budget. What a mess... Over 3,000 hate crime complaints were submitted in the first 24 hours of the Act and the Scottish Tories have predicted that at this rate, over 1 million reports could be made in the first year of the new law – though Mr S rather doubts the rate of complaints will continue at the same pace.

A second Tory MP has admitted that he was a target of the Westminster sexting honeytrap. Luke Evans, who represents Bosworth, revealed this evening that he was sent a photo of a naked woman on WhatsApp. ‘Here’s a video I didn’t expect to make on a Friday evening,’ Evans said in a Facebook video. ‘A month ago I was a victim of cyberflashing and malicious communications, and blew the whistle by reporting it to the police and the parliamentary authorities as soon as this happened.’  He went on: ‘The first set of messages I got was on a day I was with my wife and I got a one-time open photo on WhatsApp of an explicit image of a naked lady. As soon as I got these the next day I reported it to the police, the authorities on and the chief whip.

Oh dear. There has tonight been a fresh development in the Westminster honeytrap sexting scandal.  William Wragg, the vice chairman of the 1922 committee, has admitted to the Times that he was the source responsible for leaking MPs’ phone numbers to a man he met on the gay dating app Grindr. Wragg, the chairman of the Public Administration Committee, said he provided the details after sending intimate pictures of himself to the user. Wragg said he was ‘scared that the man ‘had compromising things on me’.

As Scotland’s embattled First Minister continues to face backlash over his Hate Crime Act, his party has been hit with yet more bad news. New polling from YouGov suggests that Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party will become the largest party in Scotland, taking 28 seats and pushing the SNP into second place. The Nats are predicted to lose almost 25 of their Westminster seats, retaining just 19, the next time the electorate head to the ballot box. The MRP poll suggests that Labour will sweep up across Scotland’s central belt – widely regarded within the Scottish party as being 'the first red wall to fall' – and is even predicted to take some Glasgow constituencies.

In a week that will prove testing for Humza Yousaf as public outrage over his hate crime bill continues, there is a tiny glimmer of hope for the beleaguered First Minister. A new poll has suggested that out of all the leaders of Scotland’s political parties, Yousaf is the public's top choice for First Minister. That is, however, where his good news ends. The poll, conducted by Find Out Now for Alex Salmond’s Alba party, surveyed just under 2,000 Scots about their preferences for First Minister. But while Yousaf ranked first, only a quarter of all voters picked him — and fewer than half of SNP supporters felt he was up to the job. Ouch…  In fact, the results make for rather unpleasant reading for all of Scotland’s party leaders.

Reform are breathing down the neck of the Tories, according to the latest polls. So it's perhaps no surprise then that hostilities have stepped up between spokesmen for the two parties. The Mail on Sunday has today run a two-page story on various eccentric candidates standing for Reform at the forthcoming election. Among them include a man ordered to pay £2,000 for attacking a dog in a Dorset country lane, a fortune-teller who sold spells on OnlyFans and a Covid conspiracy theorist who likened Boris Johnson to Hitler. The story also includes a prominent quote by Jonathan Gullis, the newly-appointed Tory deputy chair, criticising Reform's vetting process. According to Gullis, 'We can only assume this cast of characters passed Mr Tice's muster.

Oh dear. Another week, another bad poll for the Tories. The Conservative party’s prospects have plummeted further, with polling suggesting Rishi Sunak’s party is on track to win fewer than 100 seats. Labour, meanwhile, could win 468 — resulting in a rather astounding 286-seat majority. But that’s not the worst news for Sunak: Labour is very narrowly behind him, less than 2.5 percentage points, in his own seat. Ouch.  The Survation MRP poll, which quizzed 15,000 people, suggests Labour may win 45 per cent of the vote share, 19 points ahead of the Tories. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are on track to win a mere 98 seats. The Tories will win none in Wales or Scotland, the poll predicts — to the disappointment of the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross.

It seems Angela Rayner is in hot water again. The Labour deputy leader might have thought she had escaped unscathed from claims about the sale of her ex-council house. But Greater Manchester Police (GMP) now says it is reassessing its previous decision not to investigate allegations that she gave false information on official documents, in a potential breach of electoral law. A sub-optimal start for Labour's local election campaign today... For her part, Rayner continues to protest her innocence. She insists that the row is 'manufactured' in an attempt to 'smear' her. She told Newsnight last week that there had been 'no wrongdoing' and “no unlawfulness', adding: 'I’ve been very clear there’s no rules broken.

The fall-out continues from Friday's attack on Moscow concert hall attack in which 139 people were reported dead. Russian officials have directly accused Ukraine and the West of being involved – despite, er, the Islamic State claiming responsibility and releasing video of the atrocity. But in their bid to prove their side of events, the Russian state press is now citing an unlikely 'expert opinion'. Step forward George Galloway, the newly-elected MP for Rochdale, who is quoted approvingly at length in Russkaya Gazeta today, giving an 'expert opinion.' The quotes appear to be a distilled version of comments which Galloway made on his YouTube channel on Sunday.