Editorial 24 April 2024. 

Wednesday’s front pages cover the news the UK government has announced an extra £75bn on defence spending over the next six years. The papers declare the UK is on a “war footing” after the announcement. 

Many of the papers cover the news that five migrants died in the Channel yesterday, including a young girl. The papers tie the tragedy to the Rwanda bill – with the right-leaning papers saying the Rwanda bill will deter these horrifying deaths. 

Away from the two main stories, there’s room for other domestic stories, with many of the tabloids marking Prince Louis’s sixth birthday. 

‘PM pledges extra £75bn on defence’

The Guardian says the promise comes after months of pressure from Tory MPs – including the defence secretary – to boost military spending “to counter increasing dangers.”

The i newspaper says Sunak’s pledge is the biggest hike to military spending in a generation and comes after the PM warned of a threat from the axis of authoritarian states such as Russia, China and Iran. He has urged other European nations to step up their defence spending, the paper says.

The FT also leads on the story, noting the promise to give Ukraine another £500m in military aid. 

The Telegraph reports there will be a focus on hypersonic missiles, lasers, anti-tank rockets and artillery shells. It adds that the plan to “hugely ramp up” domestic weapons production and make the UK “by far the largest defence power in Europe”.

The Daily Mail hails the funding as “a potential election dividing line”. It adds that the decision to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 is a “major victory” for the Mail’s campaign. 

The Times says Labour has not said if it will honour the commitment but has promised to conduct a strategic defence and security review in its first year of government if elected. It also quotes the PM as saying NATO cannot expect the US to “pay any price” to defend the West if “we ourselves are unwilling to make greater sacrifices for our own security.” 

‘5 migrants drown in Channel’

The papers remain divided on the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after it received parliamentary approval earlier in the week. 

The Mail says the deaths of five migrants on a dingy yesterday is a reminder of why the Rwanda scheme has become a “moral duty”. The Times is also supportive of the plan saying it is “an ambitious idea well worth undertaking” – and goes on to criticise Labour for not providing an alternative. 

The Metro reports how a young girl was among those killed “amid panic” on a dinghy with 112 migrants packed on board. The incident happened hours after Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill – designed to deter migrants from crossing the Channel – passed through parliament, the paper notes. The paper’s headline reads: “Let this be last Channel Tragedy”.

The left-leaning papers have a different view. 

The Guardian reports there is no evidence the policy will deter migrants. The FT worries the bill sets a bad precedent. The paper says the measure legislates “to declare that the facts are not what the courts found them to be”. 

An opinion piece says this creates a “slippery slope” where future governments might declare black is white or that someone acquitted of a criminal charge is guilty.

Away from the two big stories, several of the papers lead with local domestic news. 

The Mirror continues with its own investigation into the 1999 murder of BBC presenter Jill Dando. The paper says a key witness who was driving near the scene of the killing contacted the paper to say a man she saw running away was a Serbian assassin called Milorad Ulemek. The witness contacted the paper on Monday after it published the assassin’s photo.

The paper claimed he had a striking resemblance to a man seen on CCTV near Ms Dando’s home. Ulemek’s lawyer said his client, who has been jailed for 40 years in Serbia for two assassinations, didn’t wish to comment.