Newspaper headlines: '£900m fuel rip off' and 'flaming June'

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By BBC News
Staff
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Many front pages are dominated by stories reflecting the cost of living pressures in the UK.

The Daily Telegraph says supermarkets have been treating customers like "cash cows" by overcharging for fuel. The Competitions and Markets Authority watchdog found that drivers had been paying 6p per litre more than they had to between 2019 and 2022. It blamed weaker competition between the supermarkets for the high prices - and the fact that several of them had amassed huge debts as the result of takeovers, meaning their profit margins needed to be higher. Supermarket bosses said other cost increases had to be taken into account. Downing Street is said to be pressing ahead with plans to force retailers to publish their forecourt prices online - a move which the Daily Express calls a "silver lining" to the whole issue.

The Times has the same story, as does the Daily Mirror calling it the "£900m fuel rip-off", a reference to how much four supermarkets - Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's - overcharged drivers last year alone. In its editorial, it says the big supermarkets cynically raised profit margins to fill their corporate tanks, helping to fuel the cost of living crisis.

The Financial Times says senior politicians had been worried for a while about interest rates for savers - as opposed to borrowers - before Britain's four biggest banks were summoned to a meeting about the issue. It says the Commons Select Committee wrote to the chief executives of HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds and Barclays and accused them of "blatant profiteering" by squeezing higher profits from their loyal saving customers.

The 'i' says recent polling for the paper shows that 67% of the public want a cap on supermarket prices for household items such eggs, milk and bread - much like there was in the 1970s. Some 1,500 people were surveyed.

The Daily Mail reports that the Treasury has been asked to investigate claims that banks are closing the accounts of customers whose views on "controversial topics" they do not like. The Tory MP and former British Bankers Association chief Anthony Brown said the practice could have a "chilling effect" on free speech.

The main story in The Guardian is that Labour is considering plans to "parachute" more graduate teachers into nurseries to boost education for the under-4s. The shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, is quoted as saying she wants to see early education on an equal footing with schools, to give all children the best chance in life.

The Daily Express reports that the Conservatives are split over plans to reduce net migration in the UK. The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is said to be resisting tougher immigration proposals from the Home Office, under which migrant workers would face an NHS surcharge, and an increase in how much they need to earn to qualify for a visa.

In an article for The Times, the former Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, says it is now time for a royal commission to be set up to consider the future of the NHS. He says both Conservative and Labour now privately concede that the health service - which turns 75 on Wednesday - is unsustainable in its current form and cannot cope with surging demand despite record funding.