Norfolk council leader pulls out of long-awaited devolution deal over election U-turn
A Norfolk council leader has accused the government of “bullying” her local authority into postponing elections in return for extra funding and powers, as she pulled out of long-awaited devolution deal for the county.Kay Mason Billig, the Conservative leader of Norfolk county council, said she would no longer take part in local government reorganisation (LGR) or devolution plans in the area, saying the council could not participate in that and simultaneously hold elections.Her announcement came after the government scrapped plans to postpone local elections at 30 councils in England undergoing reorganisation, in the face of a legal challenge from Reform UK.There are concerns the election U-turn, which will see officials scrambling to organise ballots in time for polling day in May, could throw plans for the biggest council shake-up in 50 years into disarray.“Words fail me for describing the mess the government have created with their election hokey cokey,” Billig said.
“As a result, devolution and LGR are off.We cannot consent to the new statutory instrument that is necessary to set up our mayoral county combined authority in the months before our elections.So that’s it.“The contract is broken.The Conservative group is resolved that we will not be assisting this government to deliver LGR.
”There are concerns that other council leaders could follow suit,Daniel Elmer, leader of South Norfolk council, said: “We were sold LGR as a mechanism for us to receive more money and powers locally,So far, that has not materialised and I am therefore not sure that we should be spending more of our taxpayers money on this,”Billig called the local government secretary, Steve Reed, a “two-faced bully” who had forced the council to agree not to ask for local elections to go ahead, in return for being given access to the government’s devolution priority programme,Mellig added that she had never met or spoken to Reed.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said Billig’s claims were untrue.“Norfolk’s place on the devolution priority programme has never been contingent on the timing of local authority elections and we remain committed to working with all local partners on mayoral devolution in Norfolk and Suffolk,” they said.The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods:The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories.Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs.
This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu.Select ‘Secure Messaging’.Our guide at theguardian.com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each.
Norfolk and Suffolk was one of six areas chosen for the government’s devolution priority programme to speed up mayoral elections – they were originally due to elect mayors in 2026, but this was delayed.Devolution is happening separately to LGR, under which two-tier councils across the country will be merged into fewer unitary authorities.As well as the concerns about the political impact of the postponed elections, some Labour MPs are also sceptical about the wider idea of reorganising councils, disputing the idea it will save money and warning that many of the new unitary authorities risk feeling too large and remote for many voters.One backbencher said: “I just don’t get why you would do something as complex and risky as this in a first term.It’s a second-term project, at best.
” Some other Labour MPs, however, are supportive, saying the current two-tier system is confusing.Nigel Farage said Reed should step down over the election fiasco, while the Conservatives demanded he quit if he was “unable or unwilling” to answer questions about his “personal propriety as a minister” raised by the handling of the decision.The care minister, Stephen Kinnock, defended Reed, saying he was “doing an excellent job”.He said the situation was not “ideal” but the government wanted to work within the rule of law.
Palantir moves headquarters to Miami amid tech’s growing retreat to Florida
Palantir announced on Tuesday that it has moved its headquarters to Miami from Denver. The data analytics company, criticized for its role in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, joins a host of other businesses and billionaires that recently moved to Florida in search of a more business-friendly climate.Palantir’s move across state lines comes after its chair, Peter Thiel, announced on 31 December that he opened a Miami office for his private investment firm. Thiel already has a mansion in Miami Beach. The company, previously headquartered in Palo Alto, announced the move on X but did not provide further details or respond to a request for comment
AI’s workplace revolution is here – and anxiety is rising with it
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, The Guardian’s US tech editor, writing to you while cheering on Team USA in the Winter Olympics.Throughout 2026, The Guardian will publish a series of stories about how artificial intelligence is affecting modern labor. We’re calling it Reworked: A series about what’s at stake as AI disrupts our jobs.Our first story published this morning
Claims that AI can help fix climate dismissed as greenwashing
Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report.Most claims that AI can help avert climate breakdown refer to machine learning and not the energy-hungry chatbots and image generation tools driving the sector’s explosive growth of gas-guzzling datacentres, the analysis of 154 statements found.The research, commissioned by nonprofits including Beyond Fossil Fuels and Climate Action Against Disinformation, did not find a single example where popular tools such as Google’s Gemini or Microsoft’s Copilot were leading to a “material, verifiable, and substantial” reduction in planet-heating emissions.Ketan Joshi, an energy analyst and author of the report, said the industry’s tactics were “diversionary” and relied on tried and tested methods that amount to “greenwashing”.He likened it to fossil fuel companies advertising their modest investments in solar panels and overstating the potential of carbon capture
TikTok creator ByteDance vows to curb AI video tool after Disney threat
ByteDance, the Chinese technology company behind TikTok, has said it will restrain its AI video-making tool, after threats of legal action from Disney and a backlash from other media businesses, according to reports.The AI video generator Seedance 2.0, released last week, has spooked Hollywood as users create realistic clips of movie stars and superheroes with just a short text prompt.Several big Hollywood studios have accused the tool of copyright infringement.On Friday, Walt Disney reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance which accused it of supplying Seedance with a “pirated library” of the studio’s characters, including those from Marvel and Star Wars, according to the US news outlet Axios
Google puts users at risk by downplaying health disclaimers under AI Overviews
Google is putting people at risk of harm by downplaying safety warnings that its AI-generated medical advice may be wrong.When answering queries about sensitive topics such as health, the company says its AI Overviews, which appear above search results, prompt users to seek professional help, rather than relying solely on its summaries. “AI Overviews will inform people when it’s important to seek out expert advice or to verify the information presented,” Google has said.But the Guardian found the company does not include any such disclaimers when users are first presented with medical advice.Google only issues a warning if users choose to request additional health information and click on a button called “Show more”
Starmer to extend online safety rules to AI chatbots after Grok scandal
Makers of AI chatbots that put children at risk will face massive fines or even see their services blocked in the UK under law changes to be announced by Keir Starmer on Monday.Emboldened by Elon Musk’s X stopping its Grok AI tool from creating sexualised images of real people in the UK after public outrage last month, ministers are planning a “crackdown on vile illegal content created by AI”.With more and more children using chatbots for everything from help with their homework to mental health support, the government said it would “move fast to shut a legal loophole and force all AI chatbot providers to abide by illegal content duties in the Online Safety Act or face the consequences of breaking the law”.Starmer is also planning to accelerate new restrictions on social media use by children if they are agreed by MPs after a public consultation into a possible under-16 ban. It means that any changes to children’s use of social media, which may include other measures such as restricting infinite scrolling, could happen as soon as this summer
US and Japan unveil $36bn of oil, gas and critical minerals projects in challenge to China
The death of Heather Preen: how an eight-year-old lost her life amid sewage crisis
Boost to British Steel as Turkey places high-speed rail order
Goldman Sachs to drop race, gender and LGBTQ+ criteria from board evaluations
UK interest rate cut likely in March as unemployment rate rises; youth joblessness to ‘increase significantly’ in coming months – as it happened
Surging prediction markets face legal backlash in US: ‘Lines have been blurred’