‘March Budget speculation continues’ – Paper Talk

Editorial Tuesday 5 March 2024.  ‘March Budget speculation continues’ 

Tuesday’s front pages feature a variety of stories, with no one single lead. Several papers lightly cover the upcoming Wednesday Budget – with more speculation, though it’s not as heavy as yesterday’s coverage. 

Domestic issues including the NHS, internal issues for the Conservative Party and celebrity news are splashed across the papers. 

On the back pages, almost all lead on Arsenal’s 6-0 win over Sheffield United as the Gunners shred the hapless Blades. 

Elsewhere, there is also a sprinkling of international topics – a few of the papers find space to report Donald Trump has been cleared to run for election in all 50 states by the US Supreme Court. 

What stories are trending today? – ‘March Budget speculation continues’ 

The papers speculate on what will be in tomorrow’s Budget – most agree that fuel duty is to be frozen for a 14th year. 

The FT says some Tory MPs believe Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will unveil an even bigger prize, a 2p cut in the basic rate of income tax. The paper says it’s been told that “Number Ten wants to do income tax” because polling shows it would be more popular than cuts to national insurance. 

The Times says a reduction in NI contributions is the most likely giveaway – paid for by taxes rising and saving in public expenditure. The paper says Hunt will argue that central government and local authorities need to do more with less, and that there could be a potential cut in planned government spending after the general election.

For the Telegraph and the Express, the papers suggest the chancellor will give local councils until July to produce plans to improve performance and reduce wasteful spending. 

The Daily Express says there will be a crackdown on “woke” local council roles. 

The Mail’s coverage of the upcoming Budget says the NHS will miss out on extra funding and there will be no new money for defence. The paper says the chancellor is likely to raise smaller taxes – which could include extending the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas, a tax on vaping, higher taxes on smoking and raising air passenger duty on business flights. 

‘UK general election 2024’ 

Away from the Budget, several of the papers lead on domestic topics that could be seen as trying to boost Labour and Conservatives’ hopes for the upcoming election.

Traditional left-leaning paper Daily Mirror reports on the “poll humiliation” the Tories have suffered. The poll put the party’s support at 20% and trailing Labour by 27%. 

The Guardian leads on the NHS – a key topic for UK voters. The paper reports that the IFS – an influential think tank, has found that real-terms health spending in England is set to fall by 1.2% – equivalent to £2bn – in the next financial year. The paper says the NHS faces its biggest cuts since the 1970s as a result and that, without a government rethink, it will have to cut staffing, pay rates or services, or all three.

For the traditional right-leaning newspapers, fears of illegal immigration make the front pages. 

Priti Patel has demanded that France do more to justify the millions of pounds the UK sends to tackle the small boat crossings, according to the Express. The paper quotes the former home secretary as saying that people smugglers are “thumbing their noses” at London. 

The Times plays on Conservative-voter fears over “wokeness.” The paper says Tories are divided over a new definition of extremism which is set to be introduced as part of efforts to tackle Islamist and far-right extremism. 

There are concerns in the cabinet that the definition could affect other groups, such as feminists who oppose trans people’s access to women’s spaces or Christians opposed to gay marriage. 

‘German leak of British information’ 

Several of the papers report on the continued fallout from a German leak which included sensitive British information. The head of the German air force was heard in a call intercepted by Russia discussing the presence of British personnel in Ukraine. 

The Sun says the British government is “livid” because the remarks were made on an unencrypted video chat. The Telegraph says a former German intelligence chief has warned that the leak could be “just the tip of the iceberg”. The paper says Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron is expected to raise the leaks when he travels to Berlin to meet his German counterpart on Thursday.