Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
Most of Thursday’s papers lead on the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement which will be announced today.
Several papers use an image of PM Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden sitting at a table surrounded by other world leaders as news of a missile hitting Poland reached. The leaders, who were at the G20 summit, were discussing the missile amid fears of a major escalation in the war.
Chancellor’s Autumn Statement – ‘target the wealthy’
The Times says the mini-budget will “target the wealthy” with the “biggest package of tax rises and spending cuts for more than a decade.” The paper says chancellor Jeremy Hunt will drag thousands into the top rate of tax and that most of the spending cuts will be pencilled in for after the next elections – in the hope it things improve, they won’t be needed.
The i newspaper thinks the measure will herald a “new age of austerity,” but does not expect the chancellor to reveal the details of which government departments and projects will be cut, meaning the arguments will rage on as to how to achieve the savings.
The Financial Times says the chancellor will insist the pain is necessary to curb soaring prices and restore faith in Britain.
The Guardian focuses on what the mini-budget could mean for energy bills, saying the chances to the price cap will result in millions of households paying more for gas and electricity from next April.
World leaders gather as missile strikes Poland
Many of the papers carry a picture of world leaders huddled around following news of a missile strike in Poland. Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, Emmanuel Macron and others were at the G20 talks.
“When the world held its breath,” is the Daily Mail’s headline. Whilst the i says how quickly the presidents and prime ministers jumped out of bed in the middle of the night shows how fearful they are the war will spread.
The Sun says western officials breathed a sigh of relief after concluding the missile was from an air defence system fired by Ukraine, as it sought to defend itself.
Kyiv has denied this, and its stance, according to the FT has created tensions with Nato – a diplomat tells the paper that Ukraine is openly lying.
The Daily Mirror leads with a warning from the MI5 chief about Iran. He said the security services had uncovered at least 10 plots by Iran’s intelligence agencies to kidnap or kill British people on UK soil this year alone.
