The i leads with the Bank of England’s decision to hike interest rates. The increase in interest rates to 2.25% means millions are facing a significant rise in their mortgage payments, the paper reports. The paper says Prime Minister Liz Truss and Mr Kwarteng are under pressure to prevent a “deep recession” with their “mini-budget” on Friday.
The paper leads with the killing of a 15-year-old boy in Huddersfield, who was stabbed to death outside his school. The paper says Khayri McLean was attacked as “horrified fellow pupils looked on” and died despite “desperate efforts” by a teacher to save him.
Under the headline “Go for growth!”, the paper reports on what it calls the “biggest tax cuts in decades”. The paper says “not since Margaret Thatcher” will taxes have been slashed this much and notes Mr Kwarteng will “herald a new era for Britain” when announcing them in the House of Commons.
The paper carries an exclusive claiming former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich “played a key role” in negotiating the release. The paper says the Russian billionaire welcomed the five men onto a plane taking them from Russia to Saudi Arabia, giving them phones so they could contact their families.
Most of Friday’s front pages focus on the difficult economic outlook for the UK ahead of today’s mini-budget announcement – with expected tax cuts.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will release a mini-budget on Friday along with National Insurance and corporation tax cuts.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has called for an investigation into the death of the 22-year-old woman who was in police custody, arrested on hijab charges.
At least 34 migrants have drowned and 20 are in hospital being treated after the boat they were travelling in sank off Syria’s coast.
Many young Russian men are attempting to leave the country to avoid a military call-up for the Ukraine war.
Mpho Tut van Furth – the daughter of the late Desmond Tutu, has been barred from leading the funeral for her godfather by the Church of England, because she is married to a woman.
The 15-year-old schoolboy who was stabbed to death outside his Huddersfield school has been formally named as Khayri Mclean.
The Metro says Liz Truss’ government has lifted the ban on fracking in a hugely controversial but expected move branded as ‘a charter for earthquakes’.
The Metro says A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder in relation to the fatal stabbing of a schoolboy in Huddersfield.
The Metro says More than 1,300 people have been arrested in Russia after protesters took to the streets to object to Vladimir Putin’s mobilisation order.
The Guardian says Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time, a demographic milestone for a state that was designed a century ago to have a permanent Protestant majority.
The Guardian says Donald Trump’s legal perils have become insurmountable and could snuff out the former US president’s hopes of an election-winning comeback, according to political analysts and legal experts.
The Guardian says Liz Truss has dismissed as “sabre-rattling” Vladimir Putin’s warning that Russia will use “all the means at our disposal” to protect itself, warning in her UN speech: “This will not work.”
The Guardian says Kwasi Kwarteng will tighten benefit rules for part-time workers, requiring them to work longer hours or take steps to increase their earnings.
The i says The Bank of England (BoE) and the Government are “pulling in different directions” over the best steps to take to bring inflation under control and avoid a recession, the central bank’s former deputy governor has warned.
The i says Calling up 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine is unlikely to put Vladimir Putin on the road to victory, experts have suggested.
The i says Five British nationals captured by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine have been released as part of a prisoner swap, the Prime Minister has confirmed.
The Guardian says A Briton who was threatened with execution after being captured by Russian forces during the siege of Mariupol has been released alongside four other Britons and five international prisoners after the intervention of Saudi Arabia.
The Metro says Ten prisoners of war, including five British nationals, have been safely returned home after being captured by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine.
The i leads with a warning over Liz Truss’s tax cuts gamble.
Economists have warned that Ms Truss’s “gamble on tax cuts” risks damaging the value of the pound. The paper says the Institute for Fiscal Studies have also said plans to reverse national insurance and corporation tax increases could lead to government debt “spiralling out of control”.
The Guardian has world reaction to Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons.
US President Joe Biden has condemned Mr Putin’s “imperial ambitions” and threats to deploy Russia’s nuclear arsenal, the Guardian reports.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York, Mr Biden sought to unite the international community and described the invasion as being about “extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist”, the paper says.
