SNP government would provide funding to companies to pilot a four-day week; Eric Pickles tells MPs he warned of a scandal ‘but this is not where I expected it to come from’
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3.28pm BST
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has had his say on the SNP manifesto launch today. Torcuil Crichton reports for the Daily Record that Sarwar criticised the proposed programme for offering big targets for a decade from now, but no immediate solutions. Sarwar said:
Nicola Sturgeon is making bold promises and commitments around big numbers and targets for the next ten years. Will people have to wait 25 years for progress under the SNP? We can do things in the here and now. There are no big ideas in the manifesto. The big ideas have come from us, in terms of the largest job creation scheme in the history of the Scottish Parliament, the largest economic stimulus package to get people out in the high streets and restart our tourism industry. No big ideas around that from the SNP.
3.21pm BST
If you missed it earlier, here’s the video clip of Eric Pickles talking to the media. The head of the advisory committee on business appointments (Acoba) said he did not anticipate “anything like Greensill”, but had been warning of a scandal from lack of checks on civil servants holding roles outside the government.
Acoba revealed that Bill Crothers, the government’s former chief procurement officer, worked as a part-time adviser at Greensill while still a civil servant. Pickles said it was not unusual for civil servants to have second jobs, but “certainly not at this level.”
