The papers are dominated by Labour’s manifesto launch and their verdicts on the document.
“We’ll give nation hope” is the how the Daily Mirror sums up Sir Keir Starmer’s message. It highlights his pledge to build a better future for children. It calls the manifesto a serious agenda which will genuinely improve lives.
The Guardian focuses on Starmer’s promise “to fix Britain”, but it says he’s already facing questions about how he’ll avoid deep cuts to some public services without either raising taxes or “fudging fiscal targets”.
It highlights criticism from the independent economic research body, the Institute of Fiscal Studies, which argues that Labour, like all the main parties, is not being wholly clear on the real state of the UK’s public finances.
Inside its main pages, the Guardian argues that if Labour is to pay for its pledges by growing the economy and not just by raising taxes, then a lot is riding on the party’s ability to cajole business to behave differently.
For the Times, Starmer’s manifesto is a “gamble on growth” with his promise to get Britain’s economy moving faster that any other G7 country.
The paper also points out he has repeatedly failed to give assurances that he won’t raise capital gains tax, fuel duty and tax relief on pensions, even though he has ruled out raising the main rates of tax – income tax, national insurance and VAT.
The Daily Express says the manifesto is a “tax trap” which would lead to “mayhem” under Labour.
The Daily Mail has similar concerns, asking, in its main headline: “What is Labour NOT telling us about tax hikes?” The paper calls the manifesto dangerous and divisive, and argues that Starmer’s pledges to “turbocharge” the economy are undone by policies which – it says – will kill jobs and stifle growth.
The Times has details of an opinion poll it commissioned which puts Reform UK ahead of the Tories for the first time.
Polling firm YouGov questioned 2,200 people on Wednesday and Thursday, after the Conservatives’ manifesto launch. The poll put Reform up on the Conservatives by one percentage point, which is within the margin of error. For context, a tracker of all the election polls can be found here.
The Times says the finding is a “symbolic moment that deals another blow to Rishi Sunak’s electoral hopes”.
The poll is the main story for the Daily Telegraph, which says Tory strategists had been fearing such a “crossover moment” in the polls since Nigel Farage returned to frontline politics. Senior Conservative party members, the paper says, have been warning recently that Labour could win what they’re calling a “super-majority” if Reform splits the right-wing vote.
And away from the election, the Times carries a warning from NHS England’s medical director that a weight-loss drug, which goes by the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, shouldn’t be used just for slimming.
Professor Stephen Powis says the drug, produced to help control obesity and type 2 diabetes, wasn’t a quick fix for people wanting to get “beach body ready”, and shouldn’t be used without a doctor’s supervision.
The paper says A&E doctors are seeing many young women of healthy weight coming in with deadly complications from taking the medication simply to tone up.
Source Agencies
