Newspaper headlines: 'Berlin to send tanks' and 'Hunt rules out tax cuts'
- Published
Germany's reported decision to send tanks to Ukraine features on several front pages.
A "hammer blow for Putin" is how the Daily Telegraph, external describes Germany's move, which it says came after Berlin "succumbed" to weeks of international pressure. It quotes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff as saying the new tanks are going to be the "punching fist of democracy against the autocracy from the bog" of Russia.
The Financial Times, external calls it a "significant breakthrough" in Western efforts to help Ukraine. It says the move suggests that Germany and the US are now acting in concert. Berlin had appeared to rule out sending tanks unless Washington - now reported to be considering sending its Abrams vehicles - did the same.
The Guardian, external calls the development 'historic'. It says the "ground-breaking" decision - which puts German tanks on a European battlefield for the first time since World War Two - will end months of painful soul-searching for a country haunted by its Nazi past.
The state of the economy is also a concern for some of the papers. The Daily Mail's front-page headline, external "2.5 trillion reasons UK must go for growth" refers to the latest national debt figure, which the paper calls "shocking". It says an array of economic data is piling pressure on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to come up with a plan for growth.
The Times, external leads on a warning that the government spending watchdog intends to revise its estimates for medium-term growth down, leaving the chancellor with a £9bn black hole just before the budget in March. The paper says it understands the Office for Budget Responsibility now believes longer-term prospects are also bleaker, though any recession this year is likely to be "shorter and shallower"' than expected.
The Daily Express, external urges ministers not to go ahead with proposals to increase the state pension age to 68 - 11 years earlier than planned. "Increase our pension age at your peril", it warns, saying the move would provoke a backlash from older workers, many of whom would be forced to push back their retirement plans.
The Daily Mirror, external asks the government when it will address what the paper calls "deadly failings" of the criminal justice system. It quotes Chief Inspector of Probation Justin Russell as saying he cannot guarantee that the public is being protected properly, after his report criticised failings that left a man who was wrongly assessed as "medium risk" free to kill Zara Aleena.
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