The build-up to the election leads many of Tuesday’s front pages. In an interview with the Times, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says a large majority for his party would be better for the country because it would mean “we can roll up our sleeves and get on with the change we need”. The paper says the comment is a “direct riposte to Tory claims that a Labour landslide would give his party unchecked power”.
Ed Miliband, the shadow energy secretary, has told the Guardian that Labour would seek to take the global lead on efforts to tackle climate change. He describes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to delay to some of the government’s net zero pledges as a “historic mistake” and says the UK was “off track” on the issue. “This election is an opportunity for us to change course,” he says.
The i says Labour is “facing up to the prospect of a far-right neighbour in France”, with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally expected to make significant gains when the country’s parliamentary election concludes on Sunday. The paper says Sir Keir is “pragmatic” about working with the party and is already holding talks focusing on how to tackle illegal migration.
Writing for the Mirror, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown says a vote for Labour will help stop children having to grow up in poverty. “The sorrows of these desolate children will remain a scar on our conscience unless something is done,” he says.
The Daily Express carries an article by Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch in which she says former Conservative voters considering switching to Reform could bring about the loss of hundreds of Tory MPs in return for just “a few inexperienced Reform candidates”. She says that “now is a time for serious politics” and that “all our lives depend on it”.
Royal Mail has been criticised by Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake for failing to deliver postal votes in time for the election, the Daily Telegraph reports. The paper says voters in more than 90 constituencies have raised concerns about their ballots failing to arrive. Mr Hollinrake says the delays have been caused by “a resourcing issue” and that “time is completely of the essence now”.
The Metro leads with the death of Peter Fouché, a British combat medic and founder of the Project Konstantin charity, which provides essential supplies to soldiers on the front lines in Ukraine. The charity said Fouché died on Thursday while working as a medic in eastern Ukraine. In a statement, it said he was actively involved in saving more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers and that there were “no words or phrases that could ever encapsulate how much he meant to all of us”.
A senior official has warned that the UK’s armed forces are not ready for “conflict of any scale”, the Daily Mail reports. It follows an interview given to the Financial Times by Rob Johnson, who recently stepped down as the head of an office in the Ministry of Defence dedicated to judging the country’s readiness for war. The paper says his comments are “devastating” and will push defence “back into the political spotlight just days before the election”.
The Financial Times leads on a ruling from the US Supreme Court that Donald Trump has broad immunity from criminal prosecution for his actions as president. It comes as Trump is facing numerous trials, including one over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The paper says the ruling will reduce the likelihood of a verdict in the case until about November’s election and that, if elected, Trump could instruct the Department of Justice to drop the case altogether.
And the Daily Star says “fun-sponge footie chiefs” could impose a ban on England’s Jude Bellingham over a gesture he made towards the Slovakia bench after scoring a last-minute goal when the two sides met in the last-16 of the Euros on Sunday. Bellingham has said the gesture was part of an “inside joke” towards some friends and that he has “nothing but respect” for how Slovakia played in the match. The headline in the paper reads: “Oh balls!”
BBC
