WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Local election predictions, Canada car attack, and Liverpool crowned champion

 
today's politics story

Voters set to desert Labour and Tories, says top pollster

What happened
Support for the Conservatives and Labour has fallen to historic lows, with fewer than half of voters set to back either of the main parties in this week's local elections, polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice told The Independent. Reform UK, meanwhile, is poised to win hundreds of seats, according to his predictions.

Who said what
The "big winner from the shift in voter intentions is Nigel Farage's Reform UK", said The Independent. Curtice described Reform as having "already won" the elections, before even a single seat is declared. He also forecast that the Liberal Democrats would perform strongly in areas like Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire because Reform has "murdered the Tories" and cleared a path for Ed Davey's party.

For Reform UK "this is (almost) entirely new ground" given the party had few candidates in 2021, but is standing them in almost every contest this time around, said Paula Surridge, professor of political sociology at the University of Bristol, in The Guardian. Consequently Reform is in a position to finish in first place in terms of councillors elected on the night, which "would be a key victory for the party in establishing itself as a potent political force".

What next?
Will this be the "anyone but the big parties" local election, asked Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC. From Friday, "Reform could give the two big traditional tribes a problem", but it may also acquire a potential problem of its own that it hasn't encountered thus far – "a track record to defend".

 
 
today's international story

Car ramming attack leaves 11 dead at Vancouver festival

What happened
At least 11 people died and dozens were injured Saturday after a man allegedly rammed his car into a group of bystanders at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, police said. Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, a Vancouver resident, allegedly drove his Black Audi SUV onto the pavement around 8pm local time and "struck people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival," said The Associated Press. He has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder.

Who said what
Eyewitness Kris Pangilinan told Canadian public broadcaster CBC that the scene was "like a war zone", adding: "It was like seeing a bowling ball hit – all the pins flying up in the air." Interim police chief Steve Rai called the attack "the darkest day" in the city's history.

The incident "overshadowed the final day of Canada's general election campaign", said The Times. It has also "raised questions about public safety and mental health in Vancouver", according to CNN.

What next?
Authorities are reviewing security protocols for public events. The suspect remains in custody and an investigation into the attack continues.

 
 
Today's sports story

Liverpool crowned Premier League champion

What happened
Liverpool has secured a record-equalling 20th English league title with a 5-1 rout of Tottenham at Anfield, ending Manchester City's four-year era of dominance. The club's manager Arne Slot, appointed last summer, became the first head coach in Liverpool's history to win the English top flight in his debut season. Arsenal's draw with Crystal Palace last Wednesday meant Slot's team needed just one more point yesterday, and the Reds emphatically delivered, winning the title with four games to spare.

Who said what
Slot, reflecting on the achievement, said: "You've worked so hard for this moment to happen and you need time to truly feel it." Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher praised the significance of the moment, writing in The Telegraph that Liverpool's success "ends any debate about England's most successful club".

What next?
Liverpool will celebrate with an open-top bus parade through the city on Monday, 26 May. Meanwhile, attention turns to the club's summer transfer plans, with the Reds eyeing reinforcements to help build on Slot's record-breaking first season.

 
 

It's not all bad

Councils across London are using carbon offset funds to pay for major projects and drive green innovation, according to The Guardian. Islington's award-winning Bunhill heat network captures warm air from Underground tunnels to heat homes and schools, while Hackney's microgrid supplies discounted solar energy to tenants. Ealing is decarbonising leisure centres, and Kensington and Chelsea are retrofitting schools in order to slash emissions. Officials say the initiatives lower bills, cut pollution and show how smart use of carbon offset cash can deliver real change.

 
 
under the radar

Japan is opening up – but is it welcoming immigrants?

For hundreds of years Japan was notorious for being closed off to foreigners. But over the past decade the country has been forced to start opening itself to immigration due to its desperate need for foreign workers to plug the labour shortages caused by plummeting birth rates and an ageing population. Now, Japan is increasingly struggling to accommodate the newcomers.

Japan is still "often painted as hostile, if not downright xenophobic", said The Japan Times. But the number of overseas workers has "more than doubled" over the past decade and the foreign community, including students, has increased by 50%. In 2023, then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expanded the visa allowing foreign workers and their families to stay in Japan indefinitely from just two industries to 11. Now, foreigners account for about 2.4% of the total population.

Foreign workers are mostly permitted in industries like agriculture and nursing care, fields in which the Japanese generally aren't keen to work. The country has "prioritised immigrants based on their usefulness" and focused less on their integration – "leaving newcomers to face language, cultural and social barriers alone".

And there are also inklings of a backtrack. The government has been planning to introduce an electronic authentication system to strengthen checks on visa-waivered foreigners entering the country – the Japanese version of the US's ESTA – to prevent them from overstaying their welcome.

Still, the country's "major shift in policy" has amounted to "a door being flung open and a tatami welcome mat being rolled out to the world", said Philip Patrick in The Spectator. But why is it doing so if it isn't keen to embrace immigrants? The reason is simple: "Japan has no choice."

 
 
on this day

28 April 1977

Andreas Baader and members of the terrorist group Red Army Faction (the Baader-Meinhof Gang) are jailed for life after a trial lasting nearly two years in Stuttgart, Germany. Last month Daniela Klette, the last female member of the far-left terror network still on the run before her arrest in February last year, appeared before a court charged with 14 criminal offences including armed robbery and attempted murder.

 
 
Today's newspapers

Prince Andrew's "delusional" comeback dreams are over after the death of his sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre, says The Sun, citing inside sources. He remained silent on her suicide yesterday as the source said: "The door to a return is firmly closed."  Millions of public sector workers including teachers and nurses should be given pay rises of as much as 4%, ministers have been told, "in a move that will put further pressure on Rachel Reeves", says The Times.  Liverpool "parties like it's 1990" says The i Paper, as the club's "35-year wait to celebrate a title win in front of fans is over".

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Elon's 'living dead' problem

Thousands of living Americans have been mistakenly been declared dead by the Social Security Administration under the leadership of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), according to a federal worker. "We have people who did not receive benefits come in every day with their ID and say 'I'm not dead, I'm alive!'" Rennie Glasgow, a claims technical analyst, told The Daily Beast. "(Doge staffers) went into the system and they killed off people."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Jamie Timson, Harriet Marsden, Ross Couzens and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Ben Stansall / AFP / Getty Images; Don McKinnon / AFP / Getty Images; Carl Recine / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.