James Kerr: The people of Falkirk are abandoning the Labour Party

Towns like Grangemouth are looking for change after decades of being left behind. The Conservatives are confident of making gains.

Henry Hill: What has reduced Sturgeon to snarling at the Scottish press?

Also: Johnson has handed Truss a poisoned chalice by giving her charge of the negotiations on the Protocol.

Henry Hill: Scotland brings back Covid restrictions as Gove makes another run at a ‘four nations’ approach

Also: Government demands changes to Protocol to ease restrictions on Westminster providing support to Ulster businesses.

Murdo Fraser: Scotland’s experience is that vaccine passports don’t work – a warning to Conservatives in England

Even official papers struggle to justify the SNP’s scheme; an accelerated booster programme is much the wiser course.

Sanjoy Sen: Scottish nationalists’ new hardline stance on oil has presented the Conservatives with something of an open goal

Backing traditional industries is very far from the electoral liability that strategists fear.

Henry Hill: Ross dials up the pressure on Johnson over ‘partygate’ and vaccine passports

Also: Donaldson reiterates DUP threat to collapse Stormont; and Jack comes out swinging for North Sea oil.

Philip Scott: Once known for jute, jam and journalism, Dundee is reinventing itself as a hub of creativity

Conservatives hope to make some progress in the City – by concentrating on the bread-and-butter issues that really matter to voters.

Interview: George Osborne – “Whatever you’re doing in terms of devolution, double it. In terms of local taxation, double it.”

In the run up to the White Paper on Levelling Up, our interview with the former Chancellor opens this week’s ConHome series on localism.

Henry Hill: Labour should rethink its lamentable attitude towards Northern Ireland

Also: Drakeford strikes a deal with the Welsh Nationalists in Cardiff Bay; Sturgeon insists she’s going nowhere.

Henry Hill: Frost urges ‘calm’ as EU talks up tough response to triggering Article 16

We hear less from the “you signed it!” crowd now Brussels is seeking remedies outside the terms of the agreement.

Henry Hill: The SNP wrong to claim the Belfast Agreement is a template for Scotland

Such specious arguments are more for their own activists’ consumption than a serious effort to persuade British ministers.

John Redwood: The EU has become the biggest threat to the Union of the UK. Lord Frost must move swiftly to protect its integrity.

The EU seems to think that there’s a price to be paid for Brexit – and that is the detachment of Northern Ireland from the UK.

Henry Hill: The SNP’s new politics of ‘are you dead yet?’ shows time is not really on their side

Also: Court rules that Lewis has failed in his responsibility to provide abortion services in Ulster; Sturgeon accused of Covid cover-up.

Andrew Bowie: Cameron, and his modernising agenda, inspired my generation. Who or what will inspire the next one?

Conservatives must reach out, listen and engage much more with young people.

Thomas Kerr: Like Labour, the SNP have become consumed by internal divisions

When Glasgow binmen complain of being subject to daily rat attacks, the nationalists accuse them of fearmongering.