The Guardian looks ahead with trepidation to the chancellor’s Spring Statement next week, reporting that Rachel Reeves will announce the biggest spending cuts since austerity – after she ruled out tax rises to tackle the budget deficit.
According to the paper, the move could mean reductions of 7% for some departments over the next four years. It says economists have warned that key public services will be harmed, while Labour MPs are concerned the cuts will put more pressure on the poorest families.
The Daily Mail takes aim at the plans announced by the government earlier this week to fix the welfare system, warning that those who want to get off benefits and enter the workforce may be frustrated by a lack of jobs.
An image of Nicholas Prosper is featured on the front page of The Daily Express, after the teenager was told he would spend a minimum of 49 years in prison for murdering three members of his family and planning a massacre at a school. The paper says the killer was “forced to hear his fate” by what it calls a “common-sense” judge who ordered him to attend court to hear his sentence.
Gun laws will be changed in the wake of the case, the Daily Telegraph says, compelling sellers of firearms to inform police before they hand over weapons to buyers.
The Times focuses on yesterday’s phone call between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky – after the US president told his Ukrainian counterpart that an American takeover of nuclear power plants controlled by Kyiv would offer the “best protection” for the country’s infrastructure.
The paper notes that the White House said Trump had “moved beyond” the minerals deal that was suspended after his explosive public row with Zelensky last month.
The Guardian suggests the first conversation between the presidents since their “Oval Office horror” has helped to turn the page on a low point in relations, with Ukrainian officials saying they are now on “sounder footing” with the Trump administration.
The Sun claims to have seen leaked government papers that suggest the drive to achieve net zero within 25 years risks wiping 10% off economic growth by the end of the decade and triggering a financial crash.
The paper describes the impact assessment forecasts as “terrifying hard evidence” of the national ruin it has long predicted, and urges Sir Keir Starmer to scrap the 2050 target “before Labour presides over our bankruptcy”. The government has told The Sun that net zero is the “economic opportunity of the 21st Century”, delivering good jobs, economic growth and energy security.
With the headline, “I’d Do It All Again”, the Daily Mirror highlights the latest appearance of the former health secretary, Matt Hancock, at the Covid Inquiry. It reports that he defended the “VIP lane” that fast-tracked PPE contracts to companies recommended by MPs or civil servants, arguing the system saved lives and should be used again during the next pandemic.
But the paper says Hancock was criticised by bereaved families who lost relatives to Covid, with one accusing the then Conservative government of “lining the pockets of their mates with public money”.
