I was in Scotland when the extent of Labour’s gains at the local elections became clear. North of the border there were no election results to pore over so it was largely seen as a non-event. Listening to the local news the conversations were dominated by John Swinney taking over as first minister; still, it didn’t take long to tune back into all the speculation about what the latest verdicts at the polls down South might mean for a general election later this year.

Politics is a central theme of this week’s print and digital edition as we publish some of the industry views we have been gathering as part of our election focus this year. Simon Rawlinson’s column sets up the contention that while we can now be far more certain of a Labour administration, we have little real information about what that will mean in terms of public sector work coming through the pipeline.