Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
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.
The Daily Mail calls the mini-budget “the biggest tax cuts in thirty years” and says the plans aim to “drive down taxation, tackle high energy bills and curb inflation.”
The Guardian says among the 30 measures will be “new investment zones and an acceleration of infrastructure projects.”
The Financial Times says the cap on bankers’ bonuses will also be scrapped. While the Independent says environmental protections will be “torn up” in the UK.
The Daily Telegraph says the chancellor will also announce two “rabbits out of the hat” but provides no more details. Whilst the Mail speculates one could be a “1p cut in the basic rate of income tax next year.”
“Tax cut bonanza in bid to stop the economic rot” is the headline on the front page of the Times. The paper quotes sources that say the cuts could cost £50 billion and describes the plans as a “gamble.”
But the Sun praises the changes and says it will boost the economy and make people better off within six weeks. But the Daily Mirror has a different take saying it will be a “good day for the rich in the UK.”
Labour’s criticism of the features of the economic plan in the FT, with the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves writing the PM’s approach, is “discredited and inadequate, and will not unleash the investment she claims”. She says that “what the government is proposing is just another zigzag on a path of policy failure”.
The Guardian says some Tory MPs are “furious” at ministers for lifting a ban on fracking in England. It says the government is considering designating fracking sites as “nationally significant infrastructure projects”, which would allow them to “bypass normal planning requirements”.
Away from the mini-budget, the latest from Russia features on several papers.
The Sun has an interview with one of the five British men who was released this week after being held by Russian-backed troops in Ukraine. The paper says former Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich “played a key role” in the release of the men.
The Guardian reports that Labour wants to abolish the House of Lords. The paper has seen a leaked review by Gordon Brown which recommends replacing it with an upper house of nations and religions.