Local elections: Ready for Reform?

Votes have been counted – well, most of them. So what do Thursday’s elections for four regional mayors, more than 1,000 councillors and the new MP for Runcorn and Helsby mean for British politics, Keir Starmer and the Labour government’s devolution agenda?

Another big election has taken place too – and that’s in Canada. Mark Carney – remember him? – has won the general election, and in doing so turned around months of terrible polling for the now still ruling Liberal Party. So how did he do it and what does it mean for the UK?

Plus: The data on school absence is moving in the wrong direction. Moira Wallace, who used to run Tony Blair’s Social Exclusion Unit, joins the podcast team to tell us what Keir Starmer needs to do – and how he could learn from the last Labour government.