Newspaper headlines: PM says donor was racist and 'funeral home horror'

Sir Keir Starmer has promised to give MPs a vote on legalising assisted dying if Labour wins the next election, according to the Daily Telegraph

A variety of stories lead Wednesday's papers.

The Guardian has a follow-up to its story on Conservative Party donor Frank Hester who allegedly told a group of staff in 2019 that MP Diane Abbott made him want to "hate all black women". It now reports that, speaking from a crowded balcony at the same meeting, he is claimed to have said there was "no room for the Indians" and suggested that staff climb on the roof of a train.

The paper also reports him saying that he made a lot of jokes about racism and was looking forward to a work trip to Malaysia, where he could make new jokes about Malaysian people. He then allegedly told the meeting that in a "loving company" people should be able to make jokes about each other in a "loving" way.

The Times reports that ministers have drawn up a voluntary scheme to encourage people whose asylum claims in the UK have failed to move to Rwanda of their own accord. Tens of thousands of people who cannot return to their own country would be given up to £3,000 to agree to be flown to Rwanda. The plans are separate from a scheme that would see people arriving in the UK illegally deported to Rwanda, legislation for which is currently going through Parliament.

The Daily Telegraph says Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has promised to give MPs a vote on legalising assisted dying if Labour wins the next election. He made the commitment to ITV News after a phone call with broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen, who has terminal cancer and has said publicly she would consider assisted dying. Sir Keir said he would like a vote on the issue during the next parliament, meaning the law could be changed before the end of the decade.

"Heartbreak and Horror" is the Daily Mirror's headline. The paper says 1,000 people have contacted the police over fears about how a funeral directors in Hull handled the remains of their loved ones. Police said on Tuesday they had removed 35 bodies and a quantity of ashes from Legacy Independent Funeral Directors over "concern for care of the deceased". One relative tells the paper: "It's like something out of a horror movie."

The Daily Express says former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to hit the campaign trail at the next general election in support of what it calls "hard won" Brexit freedoms. The paper says Mr Johnson is understood to be keen to fight to protect red wall seats in the north of England and Midlands that the Conservatives won from Labour in 2019. It adds, though, that he is not expected to appear on the stump with successor Rishi Sunak.

The Telegraph says it has been told that universities facing financial collapse are considering offering fewer place to British students and more to foreign students, who pay higher fees. John Rushforth, the executive secretary of the Committee of University Chairs, says the move is definitely being considered because universities could make more "surplus" on foreign students.

And the Financial Times suggests that an unexpected jump in the US inflation rate last month to 3.2% may have confounded the Federal Reserve's hopes of cutting interest rates from their 23-year high. The paper points out that interest rates and inflation are key concerns for President Biden, who is keen to make his stewardship of the economy central to his election campaign.

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