The fallout from Wednesday’s Budget continues to dominate the newspapers. The Sunday Times tells its readers the prime minister will “intervene”, external to “shore up his chancellor”, who it says is “engulfed” in a damaging row about whether she was honest with voters about the state of the economy.
The Mail on Sunday says Rachel Reeves must resign, external for “lying”, referring to accusations she knew the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast on the economy was better than originally thought when she unveiled her financial plans.
The Sunday Telegraph asserts that Sir Keir signed off the chancellor’s speech, external, which it describes as “black hole lies” and declares that Reeves’s career is “on the brink” and she “could take Starmer down with her”. In response, Downing Street said Reeves’ comments were “entirely accurate” and that the prime minister was “aware of the speech” and the OBR’s figures.
Details of a Centre for Social Justice report are highlighted by the Sunday Express. It says families with three children need to earn £71,000, external to bring in as much money as a similar household living on benefits. The think tank is quoted as warning that Britain is in a “welfare crisis” because of what it calls Reeves’s “benefit Budget”. The government said it delivered a budget that cut debt, borrowing and the cost of living.
The Sunday Times carries an interview with a worshipper who was accidentally shot by police, external as he barricaded the doors at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester to try to stop an attacker getting inside. Yoni Finlay is credited with saving “countless” lives last month. He tells the paper of the “huge amount of guilt” that he survived and how he is considering moving to Israel to keep his children safe because there is ‘so much hate’ in the UK.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, says his country has a chance to embrace political change, external after a peace deal is signed. Tipped as a future president, he also says Ukraine needs to rid itself of corruption and bring in reforms to prosper when the war is over.
And the death of the acclaimed playwright Sir Tom Stoppard features in many of the papers, with the Observer devoting its entire front page, external to a picture of him as a young man along with the phrase: “Words, words. They’re all we have to go on.” The paper says he will be remembered for “his wit, irreverence and generosity of spirit”.