Newspaper headlines: 'Immigration chaos' and 'Tory fury'

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By BBC News
Staff
Getty Images

The first small group of asylum seekers has boarded the controversial Bibby Stockholm housing barge after a series of delays

Several front pages focus on asylum issues, and especially the launch of a specialist taskforce to clamp down on lawyers helping migrants with false claims.

The Daily Mail quotes Home Secretary Suella Braverman as saying she wants to see the worst offenders in jail. The Times says ministers have warned rogue lawyers that they could face life in prison. It says the taskforce has been carrying out preliminary work for months. It could expand its scope to other "professional enablers", such as doctors, accountants and employers, who abuse their expertise to facilitate illegal migration.

"Clueless" is the headline in the Daily Mirror, which says the Conservatives' asylum policy has descended into chaos with the first boarding of just 15 migrants on to the barge in Portland. It says "dozens" of people avoided being forced on to the vessel after lawyers intervened - a move which The Daily Express says has infuriated Tories. It quotes the former Home Secretary, Priti Patel, as saying lawyers and campaigners against the move on to the barge were the same as the "nay-sayers and left-wing groups" who showed no interest in tackling either the challenge of the large numbers of people coming to the UK, or the gangs smuggling asylum seekers into the country. The paper says lawyers acting for the support group Care4Calais blocked the transfer on to the barge of 20 people - some because of a "severe fear of water", which the Daily Telegraph also mentions. It says the home secretary is threatening to withdraw the asylum seekers' right to state-funded accommodation if they refuse to board the barge.

The Guardian's main story is a study which reportedly suggests that air pollution is linked to the global rise in antibiotic resistance. Analysis of data from more than 100 countries over two decades appears to show that rising levels of air pollution are making resistance worse - though it doesn't look at scientific reasons for the link.

The Times reports that average wages are to start rising faster than inflation for the first time in more than a year. It says economists are predicting a fall in inflation and a rise in earnings in new figures next week - and that wages could rise faster than goods and services until at least 2025. But, the economists also warned, homeowners could see the benefits wiped out by rising mortgage costs.

The Telegraph says senior Tories are urging Rishi Sunak not to ban new oil boilers. The policy is due to come into force for off-grid homes, within three years, a decade before similar bans on other homes. MPs are worried it could cost rural votes.

The i reports that A-level results in England won't be adjusted to take into account disruption caused by teachers' strikes. The exams watchdog Ofqual has ruled out special allowances for the industrial action, as it tries to bring grades back down to pre-pandemic levels.

And the England women's football team feature on many front pages for making it through to the World Cup quarter finals - just. They beat Nigeria on penalties, after clinging on to a goalless draw, a woman down. The Lionesses clawed their way into the last eight, says the Mail. Can they now roar into the semis, asks the Express.