A number of the papers lead on plans from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to challenge what he describes as Britain’s “sick note culture”. The Daily Express says Mr Sunak will use a speech on Friday to unveil an overhaul of the welfare system intended to curb the rising cost of benefits. It says he will demand a switch to a “can do” attitude to encourage the long-term jobless back to work and declare that everyday “life worries” should not be accepted as a medical reason for being unable to work.
The Daily Telegraph says a record 2.8 million people of working age in Britain are economically inactive because of long-term sickness, up from around 2.1 million before the pandemic. It adds that, of those, 53% reported having depression, bad nerves, or anxiety. The paper says politicians have been wrestling with how to get people back to work amid concern that the trend is hampering economic growth.
The power to issue sick notes could be taken away from GPs and handed to specialist teams linked to the benefits system, according to the Times. The paper reports that the prime minister is expected to say doctors are too readily writing people off as unfit for work and that he will not “sit back and accept” the rise in claims for mental health issue. It adds that sickness benefits for people of working age cost £49 billion last year, a figure that is projected to rise by £20 billion before the end of this decade.
The i reports that under-30s could be set to benefit from an EU plan to relax visa rules that would allow them to work and study within the bloc for up to four years. The paper says the offer is “likely to be seen as a peace offering to a future Labour government”, though adds the party says it does not currently have plans to boost youth mobility.
The government has told the UK’s port authorities it will not implement new health and safety checks as planned when post-Brexit border controls begin this month because of fears of significant disruption, according to the Financial Times. The paper says the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs has admitted there are still “challenges” in its systems for registering food and animal products and that the checks will now be phased in. It adds that the introductions of the new controls has been postponed five times since 2021.
The Guardian says Whitehall officials are drawing up contingency plans that would see Thames Water, the country’s largest water company, renationalised and turned into an arms-length public body. The paper says the company’s finances have been left threadbare by dividend payments and fines for pollution, and that the plans would see most of the £15.6 billion it owes added to the public debt.
The aide who reported Tory MP Mark Menzies to his party’s chief whip over his alleged misuse of campaign funds has spoken to the Daily Mirror. Katie Fieldhouse, 78, tells the paper: “I put my faith in the party to deal with him. I cannot accept his behaviour.” Mr Menzies lost his party’s whip after the allegations, which he told the Times he “strongly” disputes, were revealed by the Times this week.
And the Daily Star reports that 1 in 10 young people say they’ve never had a full English breakfast, while 1 in 5 say they eat it just once a year over health fears. A mocked-up picture shows a headstone inscribed with the words: “Here lies the greatest brekkie in the world”.
