The White House has warned that the collapse of a case against two people accused of spying for China “risks undermining the special relationship” between the UK and US, according to the Sunday Times. A senior Trump official tells the paper that the US exercises “extreme caution in sharing information with foreign government subject to adversarial coercion and influence.”
The Daily Express reports that the chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering a £7bn “tax raid” on pensioners to “plug a black hole in her Budget”. Reeves could hike taxes on pension contributions and on withdrawals by retirees, according to experts cited by the paper.
Whereas the Sunday Telegraph writes that wealthier people will be forced to “contribute more” in the chancellor’s Budget. A Treasury source tells the paper that Reeves is prepared to make “tough decisions”, but insists there will be no “return to austerity”. The front page also features a photo of the relatives of Israeli hostages – due to be released by Hamas on Monday.
The Duke of York told the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that “We are in this together” in 2011, the Mail on Sunday reports. The emails appear to contradict Prince Andrew’s claim in a Newsnight interview in 2019 that he “never had any contact” with Epstein after they were photographed together in New York in 2010.
Several papers lead with the death of disgraced paedophile Ian Watkins, who was attacked while serving a 29-year sentence for child sex offences at HMS Wakefield. The Sunday Mirror reports the former Lostprophets frontman was “ambushed” while in jail.
“Monster murdered” is the headline for the Daily Star, which reports that Watkins “had his throat slashed” in an attack by a fellow prisoner.
A photo of Watkins also features on the front page of the Sunday People, but the paper leads with remarks from former prime minister Gordon Brown urging voters to “fight Farage”. In an interview with the paper, Brown said the Reform UK leader’s funding cuts would bring “more suffering” to children and pensioners.
The Observer’s front page is dedicated in full to a photo of a Palestinian family walking through rubble on their return to Gaza City.
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