Tory candidates in Thursday’s local elections are styling themselves “local Conservatives”, and in some cases urging voters not to punish them for “mistakes made in Westminster”, as they prepare to count the cost of Partygate at the polls. The deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, said they were “ashamed” to be associated with Boris Johnson. Shoppers can deal with soaring food prices and cope with the cost of living crisis by choosing value brands in the supermarket, George Eustice, the environment secretary, has suggested. The comment was cited by the opposition parties as evidence that the Conservatives have no proper response to the cost of living crisis. For Labour Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said: The response by the Conservatives to the cost of living crisis has been nothing short of insulting. They are out of touch and out of ideas. People are worried about paying their bills and ministers are seriously suggesting the answer is dodgy loans [a reference to the £200 loans to help with energy bills that customers will have to repay over five years] and Tesco value. The Conservatives are living on another planet. And for the SNP Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said: Every time a Tory minister opens their mouth just now, they just seem to show how deeply out of touch they are. You’ve got Boris Johnson seeming to think it’s a good thing that there’s a bus pass to allow people to travel by bus so they don’t have to heat their homes - free bus travel is a good thing but really not for that reason. You had Rishi Sunak saying that it would be silly to help people. Then you’ve got George Eustice talking about buying cheaper brand food. People are already at the edge here and there’s nothing, for many people, left to cut. Keir Starmer has confirmed that Durham police have not contacted him about drinking a beer and eating a takeaway with staff in a constituency office last year, as he said he was always “very careful” to abide by lockdown rules. The UK has said it will ban the export of services including accountancy, consultancy and PR advice to Russia in the latest attempt to isolate the country’s economy after the invasion of Ukraine – but lawyers will still be able to service Russian clients.