Newspaper headlines: 'Rishi's roar' and 'Truss legacy rejected'
- Published
Rishi Sunak's first appearance at Prime Minister's Questions has given the political sketch writers much to ponder.
John Crace in The Guardian describes his performance as "Boris-lite", concluding that it was: "full of culture wars bluster - but without the ability to draw his audience into his fantasies".
Quentin Letts of The Times initially seems more enthusiastic, judging Mr Sunak to be "tidy, quick, reasonable and centrist". But while he gives he also takes away - saying of the Prime Minister that: "like a pianola there is something programmed about him".
The Sun praises what it calls Mr Sunak's "fiery debut" at the dispatch box, external. The paper's leader says his "strong performance will have raised Tory hopes of a recovery".
It also welcomes the government's decision to delay the announcement of its medium-term fiscal plan until next month.
But it concludes that Mr Sunak will need "every minute" of those extra three weeks, to work out his "highwire act of balancing the books while protecting growth".
Under the headline "welcome to office politics", the i notes that the prime minister "enjoyed perhaps the most vocal support from Tory backbenchers, external witnessed in the Commons since Boris Johnson won the general election in 2019".
But it then looks ahead to the autumn financial statement, warning that: "when it becomes clear where the axe will fall, he may find the cheering of his colleagues in ever-diminishing supply".
"Do you really want to scrap pensions triple lock again?" demands The Express, external.
The paper is angry that Mr Sunak didn't confirm that the state pension increase would be linked to the rate of inflation - a pledge made by his predecessor Liz Truss.
That theme is taken up by The Mirror, which suggests that the government has shown "cruel contempt" for pensioners, external and lower-income households by "leaving them in limbo about whether it will slash the increases they are entitled to".
The Daily Mail's lead is: "Rishi's migrant crisis headache". , external.
It believes the surging number of people crossing the Channel in small boats poses a "major test" for the new prime minister.
Under the headline "porous borders are a shameful betrayal", it urges Mr Sunak to get the government's Rwanda deportation policy up and running.
The paper thinks this will be a "powerful deterrent to migrants making the treacherous journey".
According to The Times, the prime minister believes education is the UK's "silver bullet", external to improve prosperity.
It says he's planning "radical reforms", including a network of elite technical institutes to transform vocational training.
The paper throws its weight behind such moves, predicting in its leader column that "the benefits to future generations and the British economy will dwarf the costs".
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