The lead story on Monday’s Times front page is Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood saying that police could be given the power to ban protests outright. The proposal comes after the organisers of pro-Palestinian rallies refused to postpone demonstrations against the Israel-Gaza war after an attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday, the Times reports.
The Guardian also leads on the proposal for police to have greater “anti-protest powers”. Its story focuses on the alarm the proposal has set off among civil liberty groups, with two Labour MPs expressing concern. The paper also carries an exclusive report that China “threatened to retaliate against the UK government if ministers targeted parts of its security apparatus under foreign influence rules”.
The China spy case leads the Daily Telegraph, with the paper reporting that Tories have said PM Sir Keir Starmer must “come clean” over the case, following a decision to drop charges against two men accused of spying for China. A Cabinet Office spokesperson said the decision to drop charges was made by the Crown Prosecution Service “entirely independently of government”.
The Daily Mail reports that Jonathan Powell, Sir Keir’s national security adviser, might have to answer questions from MPs about the China spy case.
The front page of the Financial Times carries an image of smoke rising around a line of buildings in Gaza alongside a story about the upcoming ceasefire “crunch talks” in Egypt. The paper also reports that “gold-plated fomo” – fear of missing out – felt by investors has stoked a record-breaking surge in the price of gold bullion.
Former attorney general Dominic Grieve has said that two Tory policies announced by Kemi Badenoch – withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights and deporting 150,000 people a year – are a “death wish” for the Conservative Party. “I think it is a death wish… to try and make them the same as Reform,” Grieve told the paper. Badenoch has defended the policies, saying: “This is a battle we must win by combining secure borders with a shared culture, strong values and the confidence of a great nation.”
Ahead of the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is looking into raising taxes on bank profits to raise two billion pounds, the i Paper reports. The government has refused “to confirm or deny that the tax will be implemented”, the story notes.
On Monday, Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride will use his speech to the Tory conference to announce a plan to make cuts to the country’s welfare bill as part of a £47bn savings drive, the Daily Express reports, with Stride expected to say that the country “can’t keep spending money it doesn’t have”.
Metro leads with Sir Keir’s plan to “end agony for house buyers” with sellers potentially facing fines if they pull out of a sale after receiving a better offer. “Under the new proposals, binding contracts would also be brought in at a much earlier point, to stop either side abandoning negotiations after months of stress,” the paper reports.
The Daily Star heralds the “end of butt gags” with new elastic-waisted kecks, or trousers, to stop the phenomenon of so-called “builder’s bum”.
