What the papers say – August 31

Thursday’s newspaper front pages are dominated by the news that killers and rapists will be forced to face the families of their victims in court at sentencings. The Daily Mail , Daily Mirror , Daily Express and The Independent focus on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to afford judges new powers to compel criminals into the dock. The planned changes follow child killer Lucy Letby’s refusal to appear in court and The Guardian says witnesses will be forced to share what they know at an inquiry into her crimes, which has been given statutory footing to compel the disclosure of documents and to make witnesses take the stand. The NHS is front and centre of the Daily Telegraph’s front page with the paper highlighting that hospital waiting list deaths have doubled in five years. Sticking with emergency services, The Times runs with new powers for the police force to sack rogue officers on the spot for misconduct. Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has ruled out any tax cuts this year, angering Tory MPs who have called for him to rethink the move, the i reports. The Financial Times reports Switzerland has vowed a clampdown of its own kind, with sweeping reforms coming to halt money laundering in its tracks and to help shed its reputation as a cash haven for criminals. Several newspapers run pictures of the Duke of Sussex saying he had no support after serving in Afghanistan, The Sun giving over its front page to say ‘We Did Care Harry’. The Daily Star is declaring war on yesterday’s research that claimed ‘beer goggles’ do not work, saying the research should have been conducted in a Wetherspoons on a Friday night instead of inside a laboratory.