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Newspaper headlines: Sunak tier 2 'pledge' and 'cruel' free meals vote

By BBC News
Staff

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image captionPlans are being drawn up to ban staff from working in more than one care home to prevent them accidentally spreading Covid-19, the Daily Telegraph reports in its lead story. The paper also reports that Chancellor Rishi Sunak will announce extra financial support for pubs and restaurants hit by tier two restrictions on households mixing.
image captionAs he announces the package of support, Mr Sunak will tell the Commons that the prospects for the economy are "getting bleaker", the Guardian adds. Its main story reports on plans for "draconian immigration laws" to be introduced after the Brexit transition period ends in December, which will mean rough sleepers who are foreign nationals could be deported.
image captionOfficials believe that young people have been "frightened" into changing their behaviour, helping to slow the rise in England's coronavirus cases, the Times says. It reports that concern about long-term health impacts of Covid may be one factor in the change, which is credited with helping north-east England stay out of tier three restrictions.
image captionThe Daily Mail says that the police officer in charge of enforcing the UK's lockdown rules has made the "shocking confession" that even he does not understand the three-tier system. Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill told MPs that the public needed simpler messages, the paper reports.
image captionMeanwhile, the Daily Star reports on the latest frontier in panic-buying: tracksuit bottoms. The paper claims that after the "bog roll bandits" of Covid's first wave, stay-at-home Britain faces a loungewear crisis next.
image caption"So cruel" is the Daily Mirror's headline, with each letter made from the names of more than 300 Conservative MPs who voted against footballer Marcus Rashford's free school meals campaign. The paper quotes Labour saying more than a million children were "badly let down" by the opposition to extending free meals over the holidays.
image captionMetro's front page focuses on what it calls a "historic shift" by Pope Francis to support civil partnerships for same-sex couples. The paper says gay rights campaigners hailed his words as "immensely poweful and moving", adding that they would help in the ongoing fight for equality.
image copyrightAFP
image captionThe pound saw its biggest rally since March as the EU and UK agreed to restart Brexit talks, the Financial Times says in its lead story. Downing Street said "significant gaps" remain between the two sides, but it was ready to see if it was possible to bridge them, the paper reports.
image caption"Finally, the penny drops!" is the triumphant take in the Daily Express on the same story. The paper claims that the EU has "finally backed down over demands to respect UK sovereignty" as it agreed to further talks.

The chancellor's expected announcement of another coronavirus support package is previewed in many of the newspapers.

Writing in the Times, Iain Martin says Rishi Sunak must stop trying to please everyone if he wants to eventually become prime minister, daring him to take difficult decisions and risk being unpopular.

The Daily Mail's city editor, Alex Brummer, calls the announcement that government debt has now reached £2tn "terrifying", borrowing a phrase from Theresa May to point out that "there is not a great forest of money trees out there that the chancellor can keep on shaking".

The Daily Telegraph's editorial cautions against people comparing the spending with that which happened in World War Two, noting that it took the country's finances decades to recover.

image copyrightReuters
image captionThe Times says chancellor Rishi Sunak needs to take difficult decisions and risk being unpopular

The paper's cartoonist Bob also reflects the war time theme, drawing Boris Johnson trapped under huge money bag with Churchill's cigar and homburg hat just out of reach, uttering the words: "Never was so much owed, by so many."

Elsewhere, the Telegraph reports that carers will be banned from working in more than one home to protect residents from Covid-19.

The paper says ministers will introduce legislation within weeks, but charities and care providers have raised concerns that this could lead to homes being forced to close.

Young people 'scared'

The online-only Independent claims untrained staff are being recruited by NHS Test and Trace to meet rising demand for the service in England.

It says it has seen emails confirming that untrained agency staff are carrying out clinical assessments, raising fears that people who may require emergency hospital treatment may not be being identified.

The Times says officials are cautiously optimistic that infection rates will be brought back to safe levels, after a key government meeting was told many young people had been "scared" into following social distancing rules.

The paper's Scottish edition leads on claims that the country's health service is ill-prepared for a second wave. The president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Jackie Taylor, believes officials have been too busy trying to clear the backlog of cases created during lockdown to put together contingency plans.

The Yorkshire Post urges Boris Johnson to "do the right thing" and provide further funding for South Yorkshire after the area was placed in the highest level of coronavirus restrictions.

image copyrightGetty Images
image caption"Regions should not have to beg" for support when tougher coronavirus rules are imposed, says Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis

Sheffield's metro mayor, Dan Jarvis, writes in the Daily Mirror, saying his acceptance of a funding package for the region was a "damage-limitation" exercise after seeing negotiations with Greater Manchester's local leaders fail.

He goes on to say that "regions should not have to beg Westminster" to support affected workers and businesses, warning that this could be a turning point for the government if it continues with its current approach.

The i newspaper runs a scathing assessment of the prime minister's handling of the pandemic from an unnamed former minister, calling the situation "dire" and claiming Mr Johnson is "burning through his credit" with his own MPs.

'Vaccine diplomacy'

The Financial Times says the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is risking a cabinet revolt after postponing the government spending review.

It claims ministers are frustrated that policies and infrastructure investment are being put on hold because of the economic damage caused by the pandemic.

The FT's international edition reports on tensions between the US and China over the distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine. It claims Beijing will give preferential access to the inoculation to developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America in an attempt to engage in what it calls "vaccine diplomacy".

The Daily Mirror reflects on the defeat of a Commons motion to provide free school meals during upcoming holidays. It prints the names of more than 300 Conservative MPs who voted against the proposals on its front page, embedded within the headline: "So cruel".

The Guardian calls government plans to deport rough-sleeping immigrants after the Brexit transition period ends "immoral". The new rules are included in Home Office legislation, which will be laid out in Parliament on Thursday.

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The Daily Express prints a picture of the D-Day veteran Bill Taylor saluting at the door of his house to launch the Royal British Legion's coronavirus-secure remembrance campaign.

The charity is urging those unable to leave their homes during the pandemic to display posters of poppies in their windows instead.

And the Daily Star's front page claims UK shops are experiencing shortages of tracksuit bottoms caused by the pandemic.

The article quotes bosses from Asos and JD Sports as saying stocks are running low due to increased demand caused by home workers ditching office wear and social distancing rules causing problems in the production process.