The general election may be over but UK politics continues to dominate the front pages, with the i’s main headline describing new Chancellor Rachel Reeves as being “ready for war” on housing and those against new homes being built. Labour, the paper adds, is beginning to “set about meeting its pledge to build 300,000 homes a year”.
Ms Reeves is also the focus of Tuesday’s Financial Times. The business paper reports that the chancellor has instructed the Treasury to “examine previous spending under the Conservatives”, having warned that Labour has inherited “the worst set of circumstances” since World War Two.
Defence spending is another issue on some front pages, with the Times reporting Sir Keir Starmer is “under pressure from former military chiefs” to increase it. The paper says the new prime minister will travel to Washington on Wednesday for a Nato summit and, while there, sit down with President Joe Biden. It comes as Mr Biden dared members of his own party to run against him for the Democratic presidential nomination, as the Times covers in a separate story.
Also leading on defence spending is the Daily Mail, describing a strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday as an “atrocity” – and an example of “why Britain and Nato must spend more on defence”. The paper says the summit in Washington will amplify Ukraine’s demands for more air defence weapons to defend its skies” from Russian attacks.
The Daily Mirror is more direct in its report, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of bombing “cancer kids” by carrying out the attack. The attack has sparked global fury, the paper adds. Russia has denied targeting the hospital, saying it was hit by fragments of a Ukrainian air defence missile, but Ukraine says it found remnants of a Russian cruise missile.
“A war against life itself” is the Guardian’s headline about the hospital struck in central Kyiv – with an accompanying image of a child being carried to safety. Back in the world of UK politics, the paper also covers what it bills as new Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s “first major policy announcement”, in the form of “billions of pounds” reportedly being diverted from hospitals to GPs.
Another image of the aftermath in central Kyiv sits atop the Daily Telegraph, with a woman seen crying and holding a child whose hand is bandaged and bleeding. The paper’s main story, though, is about an ongoing feud between J K Rowling and Labour, over the party’s stance on women and transgender rights. The author has criticised Sir Keir for selecting Anneliese Dodds as his minister for women and equalities, after Ms Dodds previously said there are “different definitions legally around what a woman actually is”.
JK Rowling “attacks ‘nonsensical’ past comments by new women’s minister’ is the Daily Express’s take on the row. Elsewhere, the paper asks whether the new chancellor will have to raise taxes or implement cuts to services as she settles into her new role and warns of tough choices. There is also another picture of the blast at a children’s hospital in Ukraine.
In some travel-related news, the Metro says “thousands of holidaymakers” being left grounded after airlines reportedly axed dozens of flights due to bad weather – dubbing the issue “groundedhog day”. The issue largely affected London’s busiest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, the paper writes.
“I got 99 problems but a beach ain’t one” is the Daily Star’s main headline – about an ice cream van that was washed out to sea after being parked on a beach in Cornwall. A photo shows people trying to save the vehicle as it becomes more and more submerged.
There is another call for an increased military budget in the Times. A former head of the Army, General Sir Patrick Sanders, tells the paper Britain’s forces are so worn down that they would be able to fight only a small war, for no longer than a month. He says troop numbers have fallen alarmingly because of funding cuts and ammunition stockpiles are dangerously low.
The general also warns that – as he puts it – “the new axis powers” or Russia, China and Iran, pose an even more lethal challenge than the Nazi alliance in 1939.
In a joint article in the Daily Telegraph, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey say the government will increase military spending to 2.5% of the economic output “as soon as possible”. The also say the UK will be arguing that all Nato countries should adopt that target.
The Guardian highlights what it calls the first major policy announcement by Health Secretary Wes Streeting. He is diverting billions of pounds from hospitals in England to GPs, to help patients access help sooner. Less than 10% of the NHS budget in England is currently spent on primary care – a share that has been falling despite record-high demand at GP surgeries.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is accused by both the Mail the Daily Express of laying the groundwork for tax rises, after she said the public finances were in the worst state since the Second World War.
Reuters
The Mail says the economic circumstance the Conservatives inherited from the last Labour government in 2010 were far worse than where the country is now. In an editorial, the paper says “we are not in the economic wasteland Ms Reeves likes to pretend” – and accuses her of using such imagery to justify “difficult decisions” that lie ahead.
The Telegraph also says an institute founded by former prime minister Sir Tony Blair has predicted that the new government will have to raise an additional £50bn in taxes – unless it finds radical new ways to increase productivity. The report says the money will be needed to stabilise debt, meet the increasing health costs in an ageing society and plug the decreasing tax take from oil and gas, as the country transitions to net-zero. Sir Tony is calling for a greater use of artificial intelligence to boost growth.
According to the Mirror, female jails could be converted to hold men as the UK runs out of male cells. The paper says the option is being considered as Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood prepares to announce emergency measures. The paper quotes the charity Prison Advice and Care Trust, which says many female prisoners pose a very low risk, if released.
Finally, the Sun says England football fans are fuming that the German referee, Felix Zwayer, has been appointed to officiate the Euro 2024 semi-final between England and the Netherlands on Wednesday. They are asking how he could be neutral given that he clashed with Jude Bellingham in 2021, when the England midfielder was fined for comments he made about the referee.
Reuters
