Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
Tuesday’s front pages focus heavily on the high cost of living in the UK – in particular, accusations that supermarkets have been charging drivers filling up at the pumps 6p per litre more than they should have been last year.
Many of the papers feature images from day 1 of Wimbledon after a day of high action, rain and drama.
Cost of living pressures
The Telegraph leads with supermarkets suggesting they’ve been treating customers like “cash cows” by overcharging for fuel.
According to The Competitions and Markets Authority watchdog, drivers have been paying 6p per litre more than they needed to between 2019 and 2022. It blamed weather competition between the supermarkets for the high prices – and the fact that several of them had amassed huge debts as the result of takeovers, meaning their profit margins needed to be higher. Supermarket bosses said other cost increases had to be taken into account.
The Daily Express says the “silver lining” in the whole issue is Downing Street’s plans to force retailers to publish their forecourt prices online.
The Times and the Daily Mirror lead with the same story, with the Mirror calling it the “£900m fuel rip-off” – a reference to how much four supermarkets overcharged drivers last year alone. The Mirror’s editorial says the big supermarkets cynically raised profit margins to fill their corporate tanks, further fueling the cost of living crisis in the UK.
The Financial Times reports senior politicians had been worried for a while about interest rates for savers – as opposed to borrowers – before Britain’s four biggest banks were summoned to a meeting about the issue. The paper says the Commons Select Committee wrote to the bosses of HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds and Barclays and accused them of “blatant profiteering.”
The i leads with recent polling showing that 67% of the public want a cap on supermarket prices for household items such as eggs, milk and bread – much like there was in the 1970s. Some 1,500 people were surveyed.
Labour equality plans
The Guardian’s lead reports that Labour is considering plans to “parachute” more graduate teachers into nurseries to boost education. The paper quotes Bridget Phillipson who is quoted as saying she wants to see early education on an equal footing with schools.
The Express reports on the turmoil in the Conservative party, with an apparent split over plans to reduce net migration in the UK. Jeremy Hunt is said to be resisting tougher immigration proposals from the Home Office, under which migrant workers would face an NHS surcharge and an increase in how much they need to earn to qualify for a visa.
Sajid Javid writes in the Times that it’s time for a royal commission to be set up to consider the future of the NHS. The former Health Secretary says both Conservatives and Labour now privately say the NHS is unsustainable in its current form and cannot cope with surging demand.
