Press Preview: Sunday’s papers

Press Preview: Sunday’s papers

Well hello there you are watching The Press preview a first look at what is on the front pages in the next half hour then we’ll see what’s making the headlines with the broadcaster and commentator Ali Mirage and the writer and broadcaster Kate Bon welcome and

Great to see both of you so let’s check out the front pages shall we starting with the Observer who’s been speaking to a former labor policy Chief who says that K starma is lacking a clear sense of purpose after straying from traditional party values and may not

Make one of its more successful prime ministers the Sunday Times has a poll which says 32% of people would prefer starma as PM against 22% for Rishi sunak but the number of undecided it says gives fresh hope to the Tories Daily Express reports that Rishi sunak is

Planning more tax cuts in advance of the next general election to build what he calls a brighter future for everyone the telegraph meanwhile says the conservative are planning to use the next budget to force Kama to reveal his own spending plans hoping to show that he’d push the country deeper into debt

Mail on Sunday claims an exclusive with news that hundreds of what it calls pampered whiteall civil servants are now on contracts which allow them to work from home full-time the mirror says the government has commissioned a major poll to ask the public for their verdict on the future of the monarchy and says

Senior Royals will be given the result happy blue year that’s the people’s prediction for the New Year celebrations which it says are likely to be marred by a tornado would you believe floods and freezing weather while the star also looks ahead to the celebrations and says

Wait for it that 50 million drinks will be downed for what it calls happy booze year the wildest one for a decade and finally the sun on Sunday tells us that in between a star Emily attack is expecting her first child congratulations to her of course now our

Reminder by scanning the QR code you’ll see on screen during the program you can check out the front pages of tomorrow’s papers for yourself while you listen to our guests so let’s head straight to Ally uh and to Kate as well welcome to both of you um and we kick off don’t we

With the express which is part of the New Year’s messages we’ve had from our politicians and the Sunday Express Kate picking out the bit that suggests there might be more tax cuts to come yes I mean the express is basically sort of full of um possibly fulln hope given the

State of the polls it’s massively talking up what um the new year message says and what Rak is hoping to do I mean it’s you know talking in Grand terms about the uh the National Insurance cut which works out something like £450 ahead um and the gung-ho about you know

Conservatives insisting they can win the next election despite trailing in the polls uh which John Curtis in the column next door points out is 16 points a trailing Gap so it’s a big gap for them to close and there’s some speculation about what the date of the election’s

Going to be so yes it’s all very gung-ho in the express isn’t it look I I think uh Rishi sonak has given a direction of travel he has reduced National Insurance by 2% he is going to be under a lot of pressure now to reveal more tax cuts we know that

Jeremy Hunt the the the treasury announced that the the budget would now be on March the 6th there’s some speculation there’ll be a May election I don’t buy that quite frankly I think RI sonak is going to hold on for for dear life to the very bitter end on this so I

Don’t see an election happening in May but certainly he’s going to be under a lot of pressure from wings of his party to cut taxes now they’ve been kite flying what these tax cuts are going to be it may be National Insurance that might be a very aspirational thing that

They’re trying to do uh we don’t know but there will be definitely more to come but with the Tory 16 points behind in the polls with that Rwanda plan going absolutely nowhere we’ll see what happens on that a lot more problems to come he’s got another byelection coming

Up in Welling bro where they’re probably going to take another hammering quite frankly given what’s happened before it’s looking pretty dire for the Tories at the moment so I don’t envy rushi Sak’s job he’s trying to do his best in very difficult circumstances but on the

Day when you’ve just had an honors list where Liz trusty summer internship prime minister has put three of Summer internship three of only 49 days come on I know I know the government believes in internships but there is a limit here um three three three people in the Lords I

Mean come on you know these people are going to be in the legislature for life so the problem with the Tories is at the moment is that they are a totally debased party and I say this as a formator Candidate For Heaven’s Sake I take no pleasure in saying it whatsoever

We’re being governed badly RI son’s trying to do a decent job he’s a hardworking credible sensible guy uh but he’s presiding over a complete and utter debacle it feels like they’re flailing for ideas aren’t they well tax cuts is where they’ve landed on possibly but also the thing about saying that they’re

Going to do tax cuts it also highlights up actually just how enormous the tax burden is it’s the highest it’s been for decades is it but then what did we expect and there was Co where we had to spend you know billions on that 400

Billion we had to spend on Co so people forget very quickly the public are very unforgiving to politicians it was only a couple of years ago when sonak was being lorded as the chancellor for introducing the F scheme very quickly and now he’s like you know the the the the key figure

To be poked fun at yeah before we move on to the Sunday Telegraph just the bottom of this story down here star’s five big pledges for victory um listed in his new year’s message launching his bid they say to win power in 2024 um they are uh or include ending the cost

Of living crisis taking back our streets getting the NHS back on its feet cheaper energy bills and more opportunities for children they’re even more generic than Rishi sunx 5 or even the edstone you remember the edstone five back why do we need five why is it only five if you put

Them side by side from both of those Party leaders you wouldn’t know which was which really they’re so as you said they’re so generic well look I I think with starma uh he’s got two things going for him compared to 2019 one he’s not Jeremy Corbin and two brexit’s been done

However badly that has been done and it’s only a minority of the public about 6% that think brexit is actually yielded any benefits at all so starma yes look they’re wooly pledges they’re not very well fleshed out but if I was a starma adviser I would say don’t any cost flesh

Out anything at all keep it as vague as possible for as long as possible which takes us to the front of the Sunday Telegraph which is number 10’s plan to expose Labor’s debt risks the conservatives they say are planning to use the budget to wrong foot sakama on

Borrowing to try to show that under labor Britain would go further into debt what made me tuckle about this though is that this almost basically says look we’re expecting to lose the election we’re stuffed we know we’re stuffed we’re just now we’re just setting bear

Traps um and by if by some utter Miracle um they do win that the Tes are also going to be completely hobbled by this anyway so you know it feels like um again an attempt just to throw things out in the hope that something sticks

But does the nation want us to get more into debt now in order not to have another period of austerity if we’re going to get tax cuts there’s got to be a squeeze at some point well there’s going to have to be a squeeze and there’s going to have to be a reckoning

And that’s why I personally wasn’t a time when Public Services clearly need well exactly I wasn’t in favor of tax cuts although I’m a tax cutter at heart I do not believe that now is a time or place for tax cuts not when you’ve got doctors striking not when you’ve got the

Public sector uh RIT large asking for pay increases in very very difficult circumstances now what they’re doing here is that at the moment the way that the school rules work is that debt has to fall as a percentage of national income as a share of national income

Over the next five years what they want to try and do is look at the debt service costs as a percentage of GDP and they want to impose a boundary on that too and they believe that labor is going to open the spending tax but to be fair

To labor they’ve not said anything about spending at all in fact we’re streeting the shadow um health health secretary he’s been actually saying it’s all about reform he’s been going around uh the world that he was in Singapore the other week right talking about we’re not going

To have lots of money he wants to make it more patient centered he wants to make it more preventative but he’s saying you can’t solve these issues by simply splashing cash so the unions and the labor party better wise up because there’s not going to be lots of spending

Tax being opened up I mean what is fascinating about these New Year’s Eve newspapers is how political they are which makes you realize what a big political year it’s going to be so we continue I’m afraid uh the Sunday Times coming on to matters too as well it’s

Just a sort of a cheery time of year but anyway uh starma beat sunak head-to-head uh 32% prefer the labor leader while 22% back the Prime Minister REI sunak I mean this is difficult isn’t it when the PM’s been constantly clobbered and Sak starm is doing that thing in politics where

They say just going small don’t they you know this idea of just you know keep keep a low profile yeah I mean even in um this this polling is actually pretty disastrous for starm because even in his own constituency of Richmond North Yorkshire which is Tory territory you

Know they’re saying they prefer starma as leader so I mean I think I think that you know barring all sorts barring upsets that we can’t possibly foresee starmer is going to be out at some point next year um St might be out well you never know

Do you no sunak is going to be out next year goodness me it is late isn’t it at the end of the year but you know again there’s a 10-point gap there uh just in who people prefer but you know Kate it’s interesting because no one is infused by

Labor whatsoever every time I do a show every time I do a phone in on my on my show about Labor no one no one wants to call in it’s the most boring offer to voters well stop there because you’re leading me into everything that’s the observer’s front page right starma lacks

A clear sense of purpose which is fascinating from a a left leading politician to a left-wing Publications what’s going on here what’s the story first of all well what’s the the story is that John crus has written a book to uh commemorate 100 Years of the labor movement uh and he’s uh basically

Pointing out that arm is a decent guy he’s a credible person he’s a lawyer uh he’s um he’s he’s not some sort of uh you know person who he can’t be trusted or or believed in but there’s nothing particularly to hang your hat on with s

He says he’s a very difficult leader to reach no one knows what he really truly stands for and in terms of the he also points out inequality is he really talks about inequalities he talked about Economic Policy the philosophy of the labor party when it comes to starmer’s plan so

Very much on the left of the party is really not buying the starma Elixir but the problem is the problem is I me the labor party has got a great tendency uh like like all parties do to try and lose elections at least certain parts of the

Party have but starma look he’s brought the party a long way since 2019 completely unelectable under Corbin so you’ve got to give starma credit for pulling the labor party getting rid of the anti-Semitism issue pulling it into a position where it could be electable yes and I suppose shaped by Tony BL

Blair and slightly Tony Blair light you might argue but under Tony Blair there was really you know strict parameters wasn’t there there was great part of unity and perhaps that that is what he’s now delivering yes and also you you kind of feel that there was an exasperation

When I was looking at x as we must now call Twitter earlier there was a lot of exasperation from label people saying every time we’re ahead there are people you know shooting Us in the foot from our own side a circular firing squad and I suspect starm and the labor leadership

This evening is like can you guys just shut up and let us get let the Tories get on with messing it up rather than you know throwing up these flares I I will say that under Blair they had had a long time to actually get their policy

Planned together the first 100 days you remember Independence of the bank of England they had it underpinned by a social political philosophy called the Third Way Anthony giddens at the LSC he was director when I was there had fleshed out this policy which was basically capitalism of the human face

And they were going to open the spending TAPS in the second term they had done a lot of heavy lifting and hard thinking and you remember that pledge card that labor came out with in ’97 did it have five pledges on it I think it had five

PL easy to understand but as Blair said the situation that starma faces now is a lot lot more difficult than the situation he faced in 9s well the economy was actually doing a lot better well welcome back you’re watching the Press preview with me once again the broadcaster and commentator Ali Mirage

And the writer and broadcaster Kate bevon welcome back to both of you um so let’s head to the front page of the Sunday Telegraph now which talks about eurostar’s wos today what will happen tomorrow well we’re told that all services are running but there will be speed restrictions and presumably a

Backlog alley as well it’s going to be a very big backlog there are 30,000 people that have been affected by this it looks like this um water in the tunnel it looks like some sort of fire coolant system uh burst over there and it’s created absolute Havoc so 30,000 people

Affected 41 uh different um services and this is clearly the time when people are trying to get back home after the Christmas period New Year is upon us it’s going to put absolute things in Havoc people trying to potentially find accommodation in the capital overnight as well just before New Year’s Eve

Celebration very difficult where where things are very very busy in London anyway so really a very difficult time uncapping what it’s been a quite a difficult week for people on the Travel front and I know you know these routes well don’t you so AB International you

Know in Kent seems to be where the problem is and who who’s responsible for for for this well it seems like it’s hs1 which is the company that runy infrastructure and and then Southeastern trains run on top of that and the urar trains run on top of that down to the

Channel tunnel and you know it’s this Patchwork of who’s responsible who’s who carries the can bucks being passed and the and the upshot it’s just this chaos I mean I know that route well because I’ve got a family in E susex and it when it runs it’s fantastic but the whole

Christmas period for travel has just been you know a mess of no trains on boxing day your Trains being cancelled people not being able to get seats and also I saw earlier today that people were stting starting were booking flights to Paris and Amsterdam and there

Were been prices were up to like £900 for a flight to Paris so it’s really a bit of a shambles this year and you talked earli about no Goodwill in the rotor as well because of all the strike action we’ve been having the the old sense of broken Britain you know hitting

International tourism well definitely and it’s not just Paris but it’s also uh the trains going to Brussels and Amsterdam as well yeah absolutely um so let’s go on to strike action elsewhere shall we uh which is the Observer down the bottom of their front page um the strike action will sync Sun’s NHS

Waiting list V we’ve already seen that happening haven’t we well it is one of his things to reduce waiting lists and there’s a 7.7 million people on the waiting list at the moment and you’re going to have a Six-Day strike starting at next week by Junior doctors now what

They want is restorative pay by 35% uh pay increase which I think is just not um going to work right now I understand where they’re coming from I have full sympathy with Junior doctors and wanting to be paid a decent wage for the very difficult job that they do but 35% is

Not a serious basis for negotiation and I think what’s going to happen here is that they’re going to end up in a similar position to what the Royal College of Nursing ended up with wasting a lot of time many many months this has been going on since February uh until a

Decision and an accommodation is reached but the the government should still be negotiating with them they didn’t take the 3% additional on top of the I think it was 8% offer that they were given they want 35% they’re playing hard ball but the people that are going to suffer

Here are patients and a number of operations and schedule appointments have been canceled yes and I see the top of the Sunday Times actually uh thousands of cancer patients had crucial crucial Hospital appointments canceled at least three times last year so you start to see the impact on that we only

Got a minute left Kate do apologize for moving on um which is um the number in the Daily Star 50 million drinks on Year’s Eve that’s quite a lot isn’t it but if you know what you don’t know what was it what’s it been in previous years

Numbers are no good unless you’ve got something to compare them to I used to work for the Ft I know in Co years the point is exactly why they’re saying it’s the best no best wildest New Year’s Eve for for a decade well I should be going

To Ministry of Sound tomorrow with my nieces and nephews my little nieces and nephews uh for a a daytime Rave daytime so you’ll be home in bed by midnight never too early to in house you can get home and watch me doing New Year not

Drinking S I tell you anyway um see you both a little bit later on Ali Mirage Kate be thank you both very much indeed

We take a look inside Sunday’s papers.

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