Newspaper headlines: 'Thousands in 12-hour A&E wait' and Brexit 'blow'

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By BBC News
Staff
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The Observer reports on its front page that since Britain signed its post-Brexit trade deal with Japan, exports to the country have fallen.

The paper describes the decline in the export of both goods and services as a "significant setback" for Brexit supporters.

The Department for International Trade said Covid-19 had had a significant impact and the agreement could still increase trade by nearly £16bn.

The Mail on Sunday reports on a pledge by the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer not to cross what he calls the "red line" of bringing back freedom of movement for EU citizens.

He tells the Mail that "ripping up the Brexit deal would lead to years more wrangling".

He suggests that Rishi Sunak wants to renegotiate the agreement.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that 4,000 patients a day are spending more than 12 hours waiting in A&E departments.

Dr Adrian Boyle, head of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said he is "very worried" about the numbers dying, with hospitals overcrowded and unable to cope with the volume of people seeking help.

The Sunday Express leads with a report that 550 military homes have been set aside for migrants.

The paper says that charities have reacted with fury, pointing out that more than 2,500 British veterans are homeless. Its editorial urges the government to "take back control".

The Mail on Sunday says that Conservative MPs in Red Wall seats in the Midlands and the north of England are about to form a breakaway party.

They suggest that they have discussed forming a group similar to the Scottish Tories with the aim of taking tougher stance on immigration, crime and Brexit.

The Sun on Sunday says that Nigel Farage has been holding secret meetings with some of these MPs. He didn't suggest they were ready to defect but were very "disillusioned".

Writing in the Mail, the former deputy chairman of the Tory party, Lord Ashcroft, suggests that he has never seen the "Conservative brand" in as bad a state.

His research suggests that Labour is more trusted in nearly all policy issues.

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The Times reports that Mr Sunak is planning a series of announcements to show the public that he is much tougher than they think on key issue.

He will start by asking police to crack down on protesters like the Just Stop Oil group.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Transport Secretary Mark Harper calls for what he describes as "grown-up" negotiations to try to avoid the Christmas rail strikes.

He says he will work to "improve communication between the negotiating parties".

The Telegraph likens his approach to that of the Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, tackling the industrial disputes of the seventies with what it calls a "beer and sandwiches charm offensive".

The Sunday People says curry houses have been closing "in their droves" because of rising prices. The founder of the British Curry Awards blames high labour and ingredient costs. The People dubs it "Kormageddon".

Meanwhile, the Daily Star questions why in the economic climate MPs will pay no more this year than last for their Commons Christmas meal.

Cold water swimming has become so popular the Sunday Telegraph explains that an outdoor pool in north London has issued a warning that every day in the past week a swimmer there has suffered hypothermia.

A pool worker at the Parliament Hill Lido in Hampstead says inexperienced people do not recognise when they should get out.

Swimmers are advised to limit their time in the pool to the water temperature, so if it is one Celsius spend only one minute; five Celsius - no more than five minutes.

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The Observer previews a new dinosaur exhibit that will go on display this spring at the Natural History Museum which it says will make "Dippy", the diplodocus that used to dominate its main gallery, look small.

The skeleton of the Patagotitan mayorum is longer than three buses and would have weighed nine times as much as an elephant.

The titanosaur was a herbivore. It ate so many plants and leaves which fermented in their vast stomachs that the exhibition's lead curator explains the resulting methane was hazardous.

According to the Sunday People, one of the simpler board games - Snakes and Ladders - is the most likely to cause an argument this Christmas.

Nearly 30% of people in a poll of 2,000 suggested it had caused an upset.

Cheats re-rolling the dice having claimed they had dropped it - is common cause of offence; incorrect counting also raises the hackles.