The Guardian reports on an Israeli airstrike in Rafah on Sunday. Fires ignited by the bombing appeared to have spread through tents for displaced people, the paper says, overwhelming a nearby Red Cross field hospital. The attack prompted “an outcry from global leaders” and put “ceasefire talks in jeopardy”. The Israeli military says the strikes targeted senior Hamas militants.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to boost the state pension leads the front page of the Daily Express. The paper says Mr Sunak will give pensioners a £100 tax cut next year by raising their personal allowance. The PM says this will rise to almost £300 a year by the end of the decade.
Mr Sunak’s plans to cut tax for pensioners is also featured on the front page of the Financial Times. The paper says the move is intended to shore up the Conservative “grey vote”. It adds that the £2.4bn tax cut is likely to be received well by many Tory MPs.
The PM says the plan will give retirees “peace of mind and security” by automatically raising the threshold at which they start paying income tax each year, the Telegraph reports. Writing for the paper, Laura Trott, chief financial secretary to the Treasury, says it means pensioners will “never” pay income tax under the Conservatives.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged voters to “stop the chaos” under Conservative rule, as he pledged to bring economic stability in his first major election speech, the Mirror reports.
Mr Starmer’s speech is also featured on the front page of the Metro. The Labour leader told voters about his “working class” upbringing, and how he made “easy pocket money clearing stones for farmers”, the paper reports.
The Times says it has received a letter from a coalition of business leaders endorsing Labour. In the letter, 120 executives – including Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and JD Sports chairman Andrew Higginson – say the election represents “the chance to change the country”. They add that a “new outlook” is needed so Britain can “break free” from a decade of economic stagnation.
The i leads with a warning from Labour mayors, who say they are ready to “stand up” to Mr Starmer on housing, transport and council funding if he wins power in the general election. Mr Starmer tells the paper he is expecting “robust conversations” with regional leaders, but that they can’t expect to “get everything they want”.
The Daily Mail reports on a survey which found that Labour’s pledge to charge private schools 20% VAT would mean more than 220,000 fee-paying pupils will enter the state system.
And the Daily Star takes aim at Gordon Ramsay, saying the chef “sparked horror” by creating a full English pizza topped with baked beans. “What an abomination,” the paper says.
Several of Tuesday’s papers focus on Rishi Sunak’s pledge to save older people from paying tax on their state pension.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the chief financial secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott, argues that pensioners would “never” pay income tax under the Conservatives.
The paper says Tory strategists hope the policy can win back pensioners who have become disillusioned with the party’s record in recent years.
The Financial Times says the plan is likely to be well-received by many Tory MPs, after criticism from the party ranks about the prime minister’s plans to revive national service for 18-year-olds.
The paper describes their open letter as the culmination of years of lobbying by Labour, as it seeks to become the party of business before the general election.
The Mirror reports that the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will today accuse Mr Sunak of gambling on an early election because his economic plan is failing.
The paper says that in her first major speech of the campaign, she will say: “If we can bring business back to Labour, we can bring business back to Britain.”
The Daily Mail claims four in 10 pupils will quit private school under Labour’s tax plans. The paper quotes a survey of parents, suggesting that as many as 224,000 pupils could leave if Sir Keir Starmer presses ahead with a promise to charge 20% VAT on independent school fees.
The Telegraph says parents looking to escape what it calls “Labour’s VAT raid” have been warned that there are very few state school places available.
The paper says one mother was told by her local council that secondary schools were so oversubscribed that students were on a waiting list.
The paper gives accounts from medics, who say children pulled from the rubble “were in pieces”. Many papers picture a young boy standing in front of a burned-out car, as other children wander around the smoking wreckage.
