Newspaper headlines: Sunak's migrant plan and Harry's 'broken home'

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By BBC News
Staff
Reuters

A variety of stories lead Sunday's papers

The Mail on Sunday puts Rishi Sunak's pledge on illegal Channel migrants on its front page. Inside, it says the new measures will challenge what it calls the "shocking misuse" of asylum by people coming to the UK through countries which are safe. The paper reports that the new pledge has followed months of Whitehall discussions about whether Britain could leave the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides the legal authority for most deportation challenges. Mr Sunak, the paper says, has concluded the key part of the convention could be circumvented instead.

The Sunday Express leads on the same story. It says that senior aides in the Home Office have been working in secret to draw up legislation which can slam a "brake" on what it calls the "abuse" of human rights laws, to frustrate attempts to deport illegal migrants. The Sunday Times, though, says the first deportation flights to Rwanda may not happen for some time. It says the government legal service suggests the scheme will be tied up in the courts for more than a year.

"He's gone full Trump" is the Observer's main headline. The paper says support for Boris Johnson among senior Tories is "draining away" over his response to an interim report which suggested there was significant evidence he did mislead MPs over Partygate. It reports that several Conservative grandees reacted with 'disbelief' as Mr Johnson questioned the work of a cross-party Commons committee investigating the issue. Allies of the former Prime Minister accuse the committee of staging "a political show trial".

According to the Sunday Times, thousands of Ukrainian children have been abducted and taken to Russia or Crimea during the last year. It says a Yale University study estimated more than 6-thousand children between four months and 17 years old were being held in various camps across Russia. Ukrainian officials insist the figure is much higher.

The Independent reports that millions of pounds of taxpayers money is being used to part fund university qualifications for high-flying executives. Experts say the money for MBAs is being taken from the apprenticeship levy, which was instead designed to help entry-level recruits. Labour says the scheme introduced by David Cameron is in freefall, but the government says it's taken steps to stop this abuse.

Several front pages cover Prince Harry's virtual fireside chat to promote his memoir. "Harry's new blast at Charles" is the Sunday Mirror's headline. The paper reports that the Prince said he and the Royals just didn't speak the same language. The Sun on Sunday quotes Harry as saying he was brought up in a "broken home". It says the Prince described his childhood as 'incredibly painful'. The Sunday Express reports Harry as saying he's been in "fight or flight" mode since he was 12 and that while cocaine never helped him, majrijuana helped dull the pain.

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And The Observer covers the return of the veteran presenter Sir David Attenborough in front of the cameras in a new BBC wildlife series next week at the age of 96. The paper says that it understands that the show on British natural history, Wild Isles, will be the last time viewers will see him filmed on location - although his spokesperson insisted he was definitely not stepping down.