Newspaper headlines: Welby 'clashes with ministers' over small boats bill

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By BBC News
Staff
PA Media

The Archbishop of Canterbury's criticism of the government's migration policy has hit the headlines

A mix of stories make the front pages of Thursday's papers.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's speech in the House of Lords about the illegal migration bill makes the front of Metro, with pictures of the Most Rev Justin Welby and Rishi Sunak next to the headline "Arch enemies". He said the legislation was "morally unacceptable" in what the Guardian has described as a "stinging attack". The Daily Mail says the Archbishop has faced a backlash from Conservative MPs. "What's so moral about not stopping people smugglers", is its headline. But the i says a "Tory rebellion looms" after what it calls "the Church leader's attack".

"Millions braced for further cost of living squeeze", reports the i, as it leads on an expected rise in interest rates to 4.5% by the Bank of England. Analysts have told the paper that rates could reach 5% this year. It says the rises so far have cost homeowners on variable mortgage rates more than seven thousand pounds over the last eighteen months. Writing in the Daily Express, Sam Richardson, from the consumer rights group Which?, says savers could be "forgiven for wondering whether some high street banks got the memo". He says some of the "big names" are offering rates of just 0.7%.

"Flying the nest is for the birds" says the Times, with its latest analysis of the 2021 census data which shows half of adults under 25 are living at home with their family. The paper says more than a quarter of adults under the age of 30 are in the same position.

The Financial Times believes Rishi Sunak is "bracing himself" for figures showing record net migration to the UK in 2022. The paper says he will try to bring numbers down by stopping family members joining overseas master's students at British universities.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has blamed civil servants for the decision to ditch the plan to let thousands of EU laws expire at the end of the year. Writing in the paper, she says the government will now aim to scrap around 600 pieces of legislation because departments in Whitehall are not prioritising "meaningful reform", she claims. The Express says businesses have welcomed the decision to, as it put it, "streamline" the "post-Brexit axing of EU legislation".

EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Kemi Badenoch has confirmed a U-turn over a pledge to scrap thousands of EU laws

Thousands of doctors without the equivalent training to be GPs will be drafted into surgeries in England to tackle long wait lists, according to the Times. The paper says most of the medics - known as SAS doctors - were trained abroad and while their numbers have soared recently, many are dissatisfied by the lack of a proper career path. The paper argues "the need to find a better way to use such staff is glaring". General practitioners have raised safety concerns over the plan.

Dozens of areas are becoming "postal deserts", according to the Daily Telegraph, which says some neighbourhoods are only getting mail once a fortnight. Royal Mail says it's committed to improving its services.

In its editorial, the Guardian says it is too easy to write off the court case which found Donald Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation "solely on the fact its impact on voters is likely to be limited". The paper says "no one imagines it will sink his political fortunes" but "it still counts that a 79-year-old advice columnist has done what legal and political institutions have not yet managed: held the former president accountable in law for his actions, and for his lies."