Newspaper headlines: 'Maddie lake search' and 'London behind rivals'

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By BBC News
Staff
Reuters

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is facing questions about reports she asked civil servants to arrange a one-on-one speed awareness course for her

A number of Tuesday's papers lead with the news that German police investigating the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann have launched a search of a reservoir in Portugal.

The Daily Mirror says it isn't clear whether the search is based on new evidence or has been planned for months. According to the Daily Express, the water level at the reservoir is very low at the moment because of a drought. The Sun says it's been told by a source that the search is "a major development" and wouldn't have been ordered "if they were not acting on information".

The i says Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under "growing pressure" to act over reports Home Secretary Suella Braverman asked civil servants to arrange a one-on-one speed awareness course for her. The paper says Mr Sunak has demanded that Ms Braverman provide him with more information before he decides whether to launch an investigation. The Sun says she's been "left dangling".

The Times says the prime minister is considering e-mails sent to the Cabinet Office by civil servants at the time of the request raising concerns about the home secretary's conduct. The paper says the e-mails are "at odds with claims from Braverman's allies, who say she asked civil servants only for advice".

An editorial in the Daily Express argues that the home secretary should be left alone to concentrate on what it calls her most important task - tackling the problem of migrants arriving in small boats. The paper says that without her in the post, the task of stopping the boats might fall to someone less able to deal with the crisis.

Reuters

Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have launched a search of a reservoir near the town of Silves in Portugal

The Daily Mail says that staff at the equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, have been accused of trying to oust chairwoman Baroness Falkner over her stance on transgender issues. The paper says a dossier of more than 40 complaints against the peer has been compiled but that some within the organisation think she is being targeted because she "backed legal reforms guarding the right of biological women in single-sex space such as hospital wards and toilets".

A report in the Guardian questions why Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has hired a luxurious private jet - reportedly costing more than £10,000 an hour - for his eight-day tour of the Caribbean and Latin America. The Foreign Office said hiring the plane was the most time-effective way to organise the tour.

Labour's shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is also facing criticism over a flight across the Atlantic. The Daily Telegraph says she flew to New York in BA's Club World Business Class suite at a cost of around £4,000 and that Labour has refused to say who funded the trip.

And the Financial Times says Germany has recorded its highest level of foreign investment last year, partly because of a surge in UK companies setting up bases there to retain a presence in the EU after Brexit. The paper reports that British firms invested in 170 projects. One of the biggest was by the owner of Sports Direct, Frasers Group, which is building a new distribution centre.