Newspaper headlines: 'Meltdown' amid heat warning and Liz's 'tax boost'

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By BBC News
Staff
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Tory leadership candidate Penny Mordaunt told the Telegraph she was the victim of a smear campaign

"Meltdown" is how the Daily Mirror describes the Met Office's first ever red heat warning. It says as well as school closures and possible delays on the railways, there are "fears of power cuts" on Monday and Tuesday if the network buckles under the weight of air conditioners running for hours on end - while "passenger planes could become too heavy to take off" as the soaring temperatures reduce atmospheric pressure.

"Thousands may die" is the Guardian's headline - warning that people living alone on the upper floors of high-rise buildings could be most vulnerable.

The i Weekend urges readers to "take cover" - and says the UK will need "more than fans" to protect us if extreme heat becomes a regular feature of summer in the next few decades.

Some of the other front pages focus on the Tory leadership contest once again. Penny Mordaunt gives an interview to the Daily Telegraph, dismissing briefings from rival campaigns that she's not up to the job of prime minister.

"Look at my record", she says, "The first job I had in government, I managed to bring the firefighters dispute, pensions dispute and strikes to an end... other ministers didn't".

Meanwhile the Daily Mail leads on plans by Liz Truss to offer families a tax break worth up to £2,500 if she wins the race for Number Ten. It says couples with young children or caring responsibilities would be among those able to share their personal tax allowances.

Most of the papers conclude that Ms Truss performed badly in last night's TV debate on Channel 4. The Daily Express says she "seemed nervous and often flustered" and showed "nothing like" the communication skills of her idol, Margaret Thatcher.

The Sun agrees, suggesting the foreign secretary was "torn apart" by Rishi Sunak for "being dishonest about her economic plans". The paper thinks Kemi Badenoch had the best night, "skewering Penny Mordaunt for changing her tune over gender policies", while Tom Tugendhat won "whoops" from the audience as he "slammed" the dishonest culture at Westminster.

But The Times says the fractious nature of the debate shows how hard it will be for the new Tory leader to unite the party. "Perhaps the biggest winner", it argues, "was Sir Keir Starmer."

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson will offer 5% pay rises to public sector workers next week

According to The FT Weekend, Boris Johnson will offer pay rises averaging 5% to millions of public sector workers next week. It says the Treasury had hoped to keep increases to 2%, but was now likely to go further because of soaring inflation.

The union, Unison, insists the wage hike still won't be enough to mitigate the rising cost of living, or persuade "disillusioned" staff in sectors like the NHS to stay on.

And the Daily Star reports that global warming could soon mean the arrival of great white sharks off Britain's coastline. A marine biologist tells the paper that it "would only take a small change in water conditions" for the sharks to extend their normal European range beyond the Mediterranean.

Despite the risks they might pose, the Star opts for a characteristically light-hearted headline: "We're gonna need a bigger lilo!"