Newspaper review: Inheritance tax 'plans' and Europe's heat warning
- Published
The Times says the Conservatives could promise to scrap inheritance tax to win votes at the next general election.
The paper says senior figures in Downing Street are discussing the idea, external; supporters believe it would be a gamechanger in blue wall seats, in the south of England, that the Tories are defending.
The paper says until now it had been widely assumed that the party would cut the income tax by as much as two pence.
According to the Guardian, Rishi Sunak is to force universities to limit the number of students taking, external - what he will call - "low-value" degrees in England.
The paper says he will announce a cap for courses that don't have a high proportion of graduates getting a professional job, going into postgraduate study or starting a business. Vice-chancellors fear the measures will act as "a red flag to students", who could reject the idea of entering a capped course, feeling it will damage their life chances.
On its front page the Daily Telegraph says the prime minister will next week approve new guidance on trans issues in England, external.
It will advise teachers that any pupil wishing to identify as different gender should first undergo a period of reflection, and that parents must be informed of any such request. According to the paper, the guidance will also say that a boy who self-identifies as a girl will not be able to compete in contact sports with girls, and vice versa.
"Children being exposed to toxic level of lead in school drinking water" is the front-page headline in the i, external. The paper has obtained results of tap water test from 10 local authorities and five water companies.
They show that more than half a century after lead was banned from plumbing, the toxic metal is still being found in drinking water in schools.
The Financial Times says Russian hackers have hijacked a Polish diplomat's advert to sell his BMW, external, and used it to spread malware in an attempt to infiltrate foreign embassies' networks in Ukraine. The diplomat's flyer about his car - originally sent to dozens of other embassies in Kyiv this spring - was repurposed and laced with malware. An American cyber security firm described the hackers as "pretty impressive."
The Times has been told that Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is considering leaving the government in an autumn reshuffle, external. The paper says he probably won't stand at the next election, since his constituency of Wyre and Preston North is in effect being dissolved under boundary changes and he hasn't made any public attempt to become a candidate in another seat.
According to the Daily Mail "families are facing a summer holiday meltdown amid strikes, punishing heatwaves, and price rises, external."
The paper highlights eight days of walkouts by Gatwick workers. Almost 4,500 flights are scheduled to take off from the airport over the strike days, carrying up 840,000 passengers.
The Daily Mirror says a poll of its readers has found that 53 per cent of them want to see Huw Edwards back on BBC News at Ten, external. Thirty-two per cent felt he should not be allowed to continue.
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