Rishi Sunak is trying to make excuses for the building scandal – but the public have stopped listening

Editorial: The crisis affecting schools could spread far and wide across the public realm. Rishi Sunak and Gillian Keegan will have to learn to take responsibility

Gillian Keegan’s difficulties are barely the start of the scandal (Reuters)

Schools, hospitals, prisons, roads, social housing, courts of law, council and departmental offices, government agencies, prisons, libraries, civic offices, leisure centres, police, ambulance and fire stations, universities and colleges... such was the popularity of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) in the post-war era that it pervaded building projects across the country for at least three decades.

There is scarcely a corner of the public realm not at risk of containing this now fatigued, time-expired material, and now potentially at risk of partial or complete collapse. Put simply: even now, the government does not know for sure where the problems are.