Newspaper headlines: Tina Turner 'simply the best' and 'more rate rises ahead'

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By BBC News
Staff

A number of papers report on figures to be released today that are expected to show net migration reached record levels last year.

The Daily Telegraph thinks the data will "expose the chasm between the government's tough rhetoric and the reality of an immigration system running out of control", while the Sun warns the increase is "unsustainable for our housing stock and public services".

The Daily Mail says the Conservatives "really are in deep trouble" after 13 years of failing to fulfil pledges to curb migration. "If they can't control our borders, what's the point of them?" The paper asks. The Times urges Home Secretary Suella Braverman to "cease posturing, park her ambitions, and get on with building a migration system that works".

The Times also reports that the Cabinet Office is considering a legal challenge after the Covid public inquiry requested access to hundreds of WhatsApp messages sent between Boris Johnson and other ministers during the pandemic. Officials are said to fear that handing over full, unredacted details will set a "dangerous precedent" that all internal government communications could end up being made public, harming future decision-making. The paper says the government also believes that disclosing the messages would breach the Human Rights Act and data protection laws. Those arguments fail to persuade the Daily Mirror, which insists that, if the inquiry can't establish the facts, lessons can't be learned.

The Guardian leads with calls for Rishi Sunak to delay or scrap Boris Johnson's resignation honours list following fresh allegations that the former prime minister hosted lockdown-breaking events. Opposition parties say allies of Mr Johnson should not be rewarded while he remains under investigation. A spokesman for Mr Johnson has dismissed any claims of rule breaches as a "politically motivated stitch-up". According to the paper, some Conservatives are "privately baffled" as to why Mr Sunak would be willing to go ahead with the list, as it's expected to hand peerages to at least three MPs and trigger potentially difficult by-elections.

Reuters

The Daily Telegraph reports that nearly four million people are being paid jobless benefits without having to look for work, following a surge in claims of poor mental health and joint pain during lockdown. The paper says the number has increased by half a million since the pandemic, when face-to-face health checks were replaced with remote assessments. Writing for the paper, former work and pensions secretary Sir Iain Duncan Smith says the government must get people languishing on sickness benefit back to work, a move that he says would help improve their health and reduce dependency.

Images of singer Tina Turner, who died on Tuesday aged 83, feature on many of the front pages. Several headlines nod to one of her most well-known hits, saying: "Simply The Best". The Daily Mirror hails her "unique" voice, "breathtaking" stage presence and "sublime" music, but adds that what really made her a legend "was her sheer strength of character".

Alluding to another hit song, the Daily Express calls her "the hero we needed" and pays tribute to her ability to "inspire young performers to this day". The Daily Mail says she was a "superstar" and "the undisputed queen of stadium rock who invented Girl Power before the Spice Girls were even born".