Newspaper headlines: BP stokes windfall tax call and PM's bus 'rubbish'

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By BBC News
Staff
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BP reported an underlying profit $6.2bn (£4.9bn) for the first three months of the year, more than double the same period last year

Many of the front pages focus on the cost of living crisis.

The Daily Mirror renews calls for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies following BP's announcement that its underlying profits had risen sharply.

It goes with the headline "Beyond Pathetic", after Boris Johnson said he did not support a one-off levy.

But the Times's chief business commentator Alistair Osborne writes that calls for a windfall are "short-sighted", pointing out that BP did not seek help from taxpayers when it made a loss of more than £14bn in 2020.

The Guardian says Conservative MPs are angry about how the prime minister has performed when questioned about the cost of living in broadcast interviews during the run up to Thursday's local elections.

The paper quotes an unnamed Tory backbencher and former Cabinet member, who attributes the PM's recent blunders to him not actually caring about people who are struggling.

The Daily Express prints a letter to voters from Mr Johnson, where he promises to "fire up the economy" to ease the burden on households.

The i leads on claims that the government's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is "in chaos".

It says a legal challenge could result in an injunction being granted against the scheme.

A union representing Border Force staff also claims criminals in Europe are already using the plan to extort more money from people wanting to reach the UK before it is implemented.

A Home Office source tells the paper ministers were always prepared for a court case, and they do not believe the number of people attempting to cross the Channel will change immediately.

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The Daily Telegraph features calls from MPs for an inquiry to be held into whether France contributed to the deaths of dozens of members of the British armed forces by withholding secrets during the Falklands War.

Some 46 people died in attacks using French-made Exocet missiles which the paper has been told contained a kill switch.

But the report says Paris denied the weapons had such a switch when asked by UK officials. The paper's leader urges President Macron to "open the archives" in the spirit of Franco-UK friendship, to allow the facts to be established.

The Sun focuses on what it calls a breakthrough in the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

It reports that German investigators have found fibres from her pyjamas in a camper van owned by the chief suspect, Christian Brueckner.

The paper says the prosecutor Hans-Christian Wolters told a television programme in Portugal he is now sure the convicted sex offender killed the three-year-old after abducting her from a villa in the Praia da Luz resort 15 years ago.

Most of the back pages report that efforts to sell Chelsea could be derailed by its owner Roman Abramovich reversing a promise to write off a £1.6bn loan to the football club.

The Daily Mail quotes government sources, who say ministers will block the sale if the Russian oligarch looks set to receive any of the proceeds.

Mr Abramovich decided to offload the club when he was sanctioned over his links to Vladimir Putin, and initially promised to give all money raised to charities helping victims of the conflict in Ukraine.

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The Times reports that University of Cambridge scientists have created a robot chef that can taste food and make adjustments (it might not look quite like this)

The Times reports that so-called Robochefs could be about to transform the way we cook.

It says experts at Cambridge University have created a machine which can taste food, and offer advice and guidance on how it should be seasoned. The inventors hope to make further breakthroughs, which could eventually result in some of the cooking also being undertaken by machines.