Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s address from the rose garden at Downing Street, where he said October’s budget would be “painful” and that a £22bn “black hole” in public finances needed to be plugged, is leading many of Wednesday’s front pages. “Starmer’s tax alert for middle England” is the Daily Telegraph’s main headline. According to the paper, wealth managers received panicked calls from clients following the speech and middle-class savers are rushing to sell shares and assets over fears that some form of tax hike is coming.
The Daily Mail also leads on Sir Keir’s address, with this blunter headline: “Finally Starmer comes clean: He’ll soak middle class.” The paper describes the PM’s speech as “doom-laden” and states he has been accused of breaking his election promises to not raise taxes on working people. Sir Keir did reiterate his pledge on Tuesday that the government would not raise National Insurance, income tax or VAT.
In its coverage of the PMs speech, the Financial Times says Sharon Graham, general secretary of the British trade union Unite, has hit back at what she describes as Sir Keir’s “bleak vision of Britain” and says it is “time to see the change that Labour promised” – calling for taxes on the very wealthy and on excess profits. The Conservatives have accused the government of giving in to the unions after brokering several above-inflation pay deals with them to end long-running disputes.
The Daily Express takes a slightly different look at the speech, focussing instead on the planned scrapping of winter fuel payments for roughly 10 million pensioners, which the paper has launched a campaign against. “Yes! It will be ‘painful’ for Britain’s elderly this winter” reads the main headline. The accompanying article carries an interview with Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, who says getting rid of the payment could create a public health emergency and ultimately put the NHS under even more pressure – something Sir Keir has vowed to address.
The Daily Mirror’s coverage of Sir Keir Starmer’s speech also looks at concerns over the potential consequences of getting rid of the winter fuel payment for many elderly people. “There will be horror stories about people who can’t afford to heat their homes over winter,” predicts Dennis Reed, head of the pensioner campaign group Silver Voices.
“German deal to ‘turn the corner’ on Brexit” is the main headline on the front page of the Times, referring to comments expected to be made by Sir Keir Starmer as he begins to his attempts to negotiate a new trade deal with Germany on Wednesday. The PM, who will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, is hoping to gain British businesses priority access to the German economy in what he calls a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity. A source has told the Times that discussions will focus on tackling issues that currently cause difficulties for businesses, which include gaining certifications.
The i newspaper also focusses on the PM’s hopes to improve Brexit relations with Germany and also with France – both founding members of the EU that, the paper says, “remain at the heart of the economic alliance”. According to Sir Keir, putting the UK, Germany and France into “lockstep” will help them work better together on issues including the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. While a trade deal with Germany is expected to take several months, a new defence pact is expected to be finalised in the autumn.
Sir Keir’s trip to Germany and then later in the day to Paris for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games is also the Guardian’s main focus on its front page. The paper states that the PM’s attempts to renegotiate European relationships is “part of a broader strategy of making contentious decisions early in his prime minstership to reap the rewards for them closer to the next election”. An image of Oasis bandmates and brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher also features on the front page, following the iconic British rock band’s announcement that its members are getting back together for a series of gigs next year.
That reunion is causing “fans to go crazy” according to the Metro. The paper carries a quote from one of the band’s social media posts revealing the Oasis Live ’25 tour: “Stars align…the wait is over”. The reunion comes more than 20 years after the band split and a following a long-running feud between Noel and Liam.
Putting taxes and rock bands into perspective, the front cover of the Daily Star declares that “ET invaders would wipe us all out”. It refers to comments made by Sreedhara Somanath, chairman of the Indian equivalent of Nasa, that he believes extraterrestrials are real and that if two life forms come into contact “one has to dominate the other”. In Mr Somanath’s opinion, if the human race came up against another life form it would likely be “catastrophic” for us.
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