Newspaper headlines: Sunak told to 'spike hike' while Mariupol turns to 'ashes'
- Published
Rishi Sunak is being urged to cancel a planned National Insurance rise
Most front pages look ahead to the Spring Statement from the Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The Financial Times says Mr Sunak will present figures showing that the public purse is about £20bn better off than expected, external, but he will use only some of that money to help households facing soaring food and energy bills.
Both the FT and the Guardian say he will cut fuel duty, external, and the Times expects him to raise the income threshold at which people start paying National Insurance, external.
But all three papers say Mr Sunak will underline the importance of fixing the public finances, as he worries about the rising cost of servicing government debt.
"You can spike the hike, Rishi" is the Daily Mail's headline, highlighting calls on the chancellor to postpone, external the National Insurance rise, that is to come into force in just over a week.
The paper says it is "the worst-timed tax rise in history".
The Daily Mirror's headline is "We need your help, Rishi". It features comments from people struggling to make ends meet, external, including a mother of four, who says she's had to take on two jobs.
The paper warns that what the chancellor announces will determine whether parents can afford to feed their children or a pensioner is able to heat their home.
The announcement by Ukraine's Ministry of Defence - that its forces have recaptured a key town west of Kyiv, external - is the lead in the Daily Telegraph.
It says the success - in the town of Makariv - means the Ukrainians have regained control of a crucial highway and blocked Russian troops from encircling the capital.
A senior American official tells the paper the Ukrainians are not only defending well, but also making good efforts to take back lost territory.
However, the Times reports that Ukraine's armed forces are fast running out of weapons, external they need to destroy Russian tanks and aircraft.
The head of a Ukrainian diaspora organisation said some countries, including France and Germany, were not delivering supplies quickly enough.
But a Western source said there was no evidence of Ukrainians running out of weapons or that Nato countries would allow it to happen.
The words of a Ukrainian official - that the port of Mariupol has been turned into the "ashes of a dead land", external - give the Guardian its main headline.
It says up to 200,000 people remain in basements and shelters in the city devastated by Russian artillery. About 780 of those who escaped arrived by train in the western city of Lviv yesterday, speaking of constant shelling and dead bodies on the streets.
The Sun says it has obtained pictures of what it calls "obscene luxury and sickening excess", external onboard a mega-yacht believed to belong to Vladimir Putin.
A worker involved in the construction of the Scheherazade describes it as a "mini city" where even screws are gold-plated.
The paper says the yacht - worth between £500m and £750m - has been moored in Italy and the government there is now under pressure to seize it.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have continued their Caribbean tour in Jamaica
And several papers feature pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, diving within touching distance of a nurse shark, external, on the Belize Barrier Reef.
"Royal-infested waters" is the headline in the Daily Express, which adds "Don't worry, they don't bite!".
