Newspaper headlines: Westminster 'culture of debauchery' and Tory female MP pledge

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By BBC News
Staff

The Observer reveals that Labour is demanding an investigation into whether the MP who viewed pornography in the Commons committed a criminal offence.

Shadow minister for domestic abuse and safeguarding Jess Phillips told the paper that Neil Parish, who is resigning, may have broken a 1981 law that makes it an offence to publicly display indecent material. Ms Phillips has called for a review of how the legislation is applied, the Observer reports.

The Sunday Telegraph says the Conservatives plan to respond to what the paper calls the "porn scandal" by increasing the number of female Tory MPs. Party chairman Oliver Dowden said the "single best thing" he can do to is to stamp out behaviour at Westminster that wouldn't be acceptable in any other workplace. Mr Dowden added that the Conservatives want half of their MPs to be women in future.

"Cheap chicken may have had its chips" is one of the headlines on the front of the Sunday Times. It reports that the cost of poultry feed is being pushed up because it's often made of wheat and soya - two of Ukraine's major exports.

Before the war beef was three times more expensive per kilogram than chicken, but the paper warns that families "face the prospect of paying as much for chicken supreme as for filet mignon, for the first time since the 1950s".

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The Mail on Sunday leads on what it calls a "secret election pact to stitch up Boris". It says the Conservatives have accused Labour of making a deal with the Liberal Democrats, to sway this week's local election vote. Under the alleged arrangement, each party would stand down candidates in areas where the other was stronger in order to "avoid splitting the anti-Tory vote".

Thursday's election also preoccupies the Sun on Sunday, which argues that "Boris Johnson must rapidly rediscover his mojo if he is to win over the country again" in its leader column.

The paper suggests he must restore the trust of "Red Wall" ­voters - people in formerly safe Labour seats who switched their allegiance to the Conservatives in the 2019 general election. That can only be achieved by helping people deal with the cost-of-living crisis, and "ensuring that levelling up becomes a reality", it argues.

The online-only Independent on Sunday focuses on the Chancellor, reporting that Whitehall source claimed Rishi Sunak and his team have a "lack of understanding" about how rising prices are hitting the poorest people.

It claims the Treasury withheld financial support in the belief that households would be able to use money they saved during the Covid lockdowns to "weather the storm". But the source pointed out that many of these people "have got nothing in the bank".

The Sunday Express reports that French President Emmanuel Macron has become a household name in Russia, although not in the way he might have hoped. It says a new verb -"macronit" - has entered Russian slang.

The paper explains that it can mean to talk endlessly without achieving anything. Another definition given is "to appear very worried about a certain situation, show this to everyone, but do nothing".