Newspaper headlines: Starmer's NHS pledge and MPs' anger over eco-protesters

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By BBC News
Staff
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has told the Daily Telegraph that the NHS is "broken". He points to Labour research that suggests a fifth of A&E patients go to hospital because they cannot get a GP appointment - and criticises what he calls the "collapse of general practice".

Speaking to the i, Sir Keir says a Labour government would reintroduce Tony Blair-style targets to improve waiting times - meaning hospitals and ambulance services "would be taken to task" if they do not see or treat patients within an expected time frame.

The foreign secretary has told the Guardian that the UK must not "pull the shutters down" on China - because it would be counterproductive to the national interest.

In what the paper calls a "warning to Conservative hawks", James Cleverly says Britain cannot simply treat Beijing as either a threat or an opportunity, but must take a more nuanced approach. "If we don't engage, we lose influence", he says.

The Daily Mirror is sceptical about plans announced on Tuesday by the government to ban more types of knives. It says Suella Braverman is the fifth Conservative Home Secretary to promise to outlaw machetes and zombie knives - yet the blades are still available to buy online.

The front pages of the Daily Mail and the Sun both feature a call by MPs for tougher penalties to deal with climate protesters - after activists disrupted the Grand National and the World Snooker Championship.

The Daily Mail reports that the London Marathon could be the next event to be targeted - with ringleaders threatening to "flood the capital" with 30,000 supporters ahead of Sunday's race.

The Sun is clear about where it stands - arguing "we need unsympathetic judges and meaningful jail terms" to crackdown on what it calls the "attention-seeking stunts of "eco-yobs".

The Times highlights the results of what it calls a "landmark" medical trial which suggest that type 2 diabetes is reversible.

The patients involved were put on a radical "soup and shake" diet for three months, consuming just 800 calories a day. Those who had not put any weight back on five years later were found to be free from type 2 symptoms and no longer needed medication.