Year: 2024

The Guardian reports that campaigners and unions are “furious” with Sir Keir Starmer for U-turning on his £28bn green investment plan. It calls the move “the most controversial U-turn of Keir Starmer’s leadership” and says it has prompted an angry response from environmental groups, trade unions and some in the energy sector.

The paper quotes the Unite union saying Labour risks “outsourcing their policy-making to the Conservatives”.

The Metro’s front page leads on a conspiracy theorist’s claim that the Manchester Arena bombing was faked. A high Court has described the claims as “absurd and fanatical”. Richard Hall is being sued by a father and daughter who were both badly injured in the 2017 attack.

Hall claimed the attack was part of a government exercise and that survivors lied about their injuries.

The Sun reports on plans to introduce a blue card into football that would see players sent to a 10-minute sin bin. The paper says football fans have reacted with fury over the sin-bin plans.

The paper says the move would add to the “confusion” caused by the video assistance referee system (VAR), which critics have said slows down the game and fails to improve the quality of the decisions made.

The Daily Mirror reports the number of children having teeth pulled in hospital has rocketed to 48,000 last year due to difficulty accessing dentists.

An average of 119 operations a day are currently being carried out on children with tooth decay, according to the Daily Mirror. The paper quotes British Dental Association chair Eddie Crouch saying that the “oral health gap is widening for our youngest patients”.

The prime minister is going to “come out fighting” against Labour’s “dirty politics”, according to the Daily Express. The paper reports Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of trying to divert attention away from dropping his flagship green policy by calling on Rishi Sunak to apologise to Brianna Ghey’s family over comments at PMQs.

A Tory source has accused Sir Keir of using the death of Brianna Ghey, a transgender teenager who was murdered in a park in February last year, to “distract from his party’s chaos”.

Keir Starmer defends Labour U-turn on £28bn green spending Sir Keir Starmer has defended his decision to abandon Labour’s £28…

As snow and rain persist throughout the UK, weather warnings remain in effect.

In a transaction valued at £700 million, Barclays is buying Tesco’s retail banking operations, marking a significant deal for the supermarket giant.

There are now twice as many registered female football teams in England compared to seven years ago.

The most significant surge occurred during the 2022-23 season, following the Lionesses’ victory in Euro 2022, with nearly 1,500 new teams joining the ranks.

Many of Friday’s newspaper front pages lead with Labour’s decision to scrap a pledge to spend £28bn a year on green investments if it wins the next election. 

Rishi Sunak slams the Labour leader for making the connection between his trans jibe and the murder of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey.

A controversial blue card is set to be introduced into football.