Today’s news summary – Paper Talk: Budget speculation and Israeli hostage deal
Monday’s front pages look ahead to Wednesday’s Autumn Budget and speculate over possible tax cuts that might be announced in the chancellor’s spending plans.
Autumn Budget speculation
The Daily Mail says Jeremy Hunt has been weighing up whether to reduce income tax or National Insurance, while the Financial Times reports that Hunt is considering cutting income tax by one percentage point.
A government source has told the Times that a cut in National Insurance is more likely because it would be cheaper and less inflationary than an income tax cut.
But the i newspaper says Hunt has lowered expectations of personal tax cuts and hinted that he would rather reduce business taxes to stimulate growth.
The FT editorial calls on Hunt to resist the political pressure to slash taxes. It says unfunded cuts to income tax or National Insurance would be inflationary and adding to the country’s debt pile is unwise. The paper says the chancellor will need to set out a disciplined statement to lift the UK’s long-term growth potential.
The Mail’s editorial urges Hunt to cut both corporation tax and either income tax or NI. The editorial argues it’s unlikely that such a move would cause inflation to spike.
The Daily Express highlights warnings that pensioners will never forgive Hunt if he “fiddles” with the triple lock and fails to raise the state pension by 8.5%.
Serious divisions have emerged among ministers over plans to opt out of parts of the European Convention on Human Rights, to enable the government to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, according to the Times.
The Daily Mirror leads on an investigation into the rents that are charged for seven luxury apartments owned by Jeremy Hunt and his wife. The investigation discovered that one of them saw a rise of 18%. The paper acknowledges that Hunt has said he donates all profits to charity but still points to the contrast with his plea for the general public to show restraint in their demand for pay rises.
Israeli hostage deal
Several papers report on a potential deal between Israel and Hamas involving the release of some hostages for a fighting pause.
The Telegraph reports dozens of women and children could be freed in exchange for the five-day pause in the fighting.
The Guardian says the deal could also involve the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Away from the Middle East, the FT leads on the Argentina election with provisional results suggesting the presidential election has been won by right-wing libertarian outsider Javier Milei. The paper describes him as “a former television commentator known for his furious rants against the country’s political elite”.
Russell Brand leads the Metro after it was confirmed the Met Police had spoken to the comedian about two sexual offence allegations. It comes just two months after the bombshell investigation into Brand’s behaviour during the height of his fame.