Newspaper headlines: Windfall tax 'due within days' as PM awaits Gray report

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By BBC News
Staff
Getty Images

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak may meet today to discuss the plans for a support package

The mass shooting at a primary school in Texas came too late for most of the UK papers.

In its second edition, the Times points out that the attack was the deadliest school shooting in the state's history - and the worst at an American primary school since Sandy Hook in Connecticut in 2012.

Warnings of a further hike in energy bills dominate the front pages - with most of the papers reporting that a package of measures to help ease the pressure on households could be announced as early as tomorrow.

According to the Guardian, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is "scrambling" to finalise the details, with a windfall tax on oil and gas companies "back on the agenda".

The Times reports that Mr Sunak and Boris Johnson could meet later today to agree the plans, with 70 to 80% of the overall funding targeted at the poorest families.

The paper says senior figures in the cabinet are still opposed to the idea of a windfall tax but Mr Johnson is understood to have sided with his chancellor to push the scheme through.

The Financial Times focuses on how energy companies have reacted to the news that a windfall tax on their profits could be imminent.

The paper says electricity producers have "responded furiously" to suggestions that they could be included in the tax, insisting they haven't benefited from the surge in prices.

One boss of a major electricity generator describes the proposal as "unbelievable", telling the paper it "came out of the blue". Shares in some of the UKs biggest power companies fell sharply yesterday.

Cost of living 'rescue deal'

The Daily Telegraph says Mr Johnson will announce the multi-billion pound package in a bid to "draw a line" under the saga of lockdown parties at Downing Street.

According to the paper, the government was expected to unveil its plans to help struggling families after the Platinum Jubilee weekend but is now planning to bring the announcement forward to help minimise the fallout from the publication of Sue Gray's report.

The Daily Mail agrees that the cost-of-living "rescue deal" could help the prime minister "move on from Partygate".

On its front page, the Daily Mirror publishes another photograph apparently taken at a lockdown gathering inside Downing Street, showing a table loaded with cake boxes and bottles of wine.

The paper says the image, taken in November 2020, was shared among some staff on a WhatsApp group with the caption "bar open".

Under the headline, "Don't call us...." the Times reports from a ceremony in New York's Times Square, where a group of officials gathered yesterday to bid farewell to the last public payphone in the city.

The stainless steel booth - suspiciously free of any graffiti - was taken to a museum, where it will star in an exhibition about how New Yorkers lived before mobile phones.