内容摘要：Gilruth told MSPs she agreed with the Hayward report's recommendation that there should be less reliance on "high stakes final exams" but last year the Scottish government rejected the proposals.

Gilruth told MSPs she agreed with the Hayward report's recommendation that there should be less reliance on "high stakes final exams" but last year the Scottish government rejected the proposals.

"But the state of the roads comes up time and time again here in Warwickshire, it's clear that people are unhappy with how long things take to get fixed."Another party which performed well in the north of the county during the 2024 General Election was Reform. While they didn't pick up any seats, they did finish third in the two constituencies – picking up 26% of the vote in

They have no history in the county council election, but Reform candidate James Crocker hopes the party's new-kid-on-the-block status will be part of its appeal to voters.He said: "The one thing that I can see is a genuine desire for change and it's coming from areas that maybe we've not seen in the past particularly."We've got a very different breed of candidate, that is really what I think people will notice over the next few months."

The signs are that the south of the county could present a different challenge for the ruling Conservative Party. Stratford District Council is now under Liberal Democrat control after overturning a Tory majority in 2023 – marking the first time the council had been controlled by any other party since forming in 1974.Then the Liberal Democrat candidate for Stratford in the 2024 General Election overturned a Conservative majority of almost 20,000 to become the first Liberal MP there since 1908.

The Liberal Democrat group leader on the county council Jerry Roodhouse said care was one of the issues his party was seeing come up on the campaign trail.

He said: "Adult social care and the elements of care, but not just older people, but younger people too - and that's mental health issues as well - are to the fore at the moment.The blast furnaces were constantly fed with coal, and their closure will have more than halved Wales' industrial emissions since 2022, according to the CCC.

But environmentalists have warned the situation at Port Talbot could damage public support for climate action if it is seen to mean job losses and the demise of heavy industry.In its report, the CCC said there were "important lessons to learn", and that governments in both Westminster and Cardiff Bay should have been better prepared.

"The challenges facing the UK steel sector have been clear for many years and, given the significance of this site to the local economy, a more proactive and decisive transition plan should have been developed," they argued.The UK government should have taken steps to make industrial electricity prices more competitive, and convened "early and collaborative" negotiations between plant owners, workers and the community, the report said.