Rishi Sunak has been in campaign overdrive ahead of Thursday's local elections in England and Wales.
With the prime minister suffering the joint-lowest satisfaction rating of any Conservative or Labour leader since 1978, experts are predicting a drubbing for the Tories, with the party expected to lose as many as half the seats it is contesting. The prominent Tory mayors in the West Midlands and Tees Valley, Andy Street and Ben Houchen, could be ejected from power.
It comes at a time of financial crisis for England's system of local government, with more local authorities going bust in the past three years than in the previous three decades. Levelling up is all but abandoned, transformed from a flagship government policy to an afterthought.
Yet, in the policy blitz before the local elections, the prime minister's priorities have clearly been focused elsewhere as he offers red meat to the rightwing Tory rebels who could use poor local election results as a prompt to try to replace him.
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