The up-coming vote on the assisted dying bill makes the front pages of a number of the papers.
The Sunday Times reports a poll suggesting almost two-thirds of the public support the policy. It says the study – which canvassed more than 17,000 people – showed 65% were in favour, 13% were against and 22% were undecided. The paper says the results also showed that those who had lost a parent in the past five years were more likely to strongly back assisted dying than those who had not.
The Observer’s policy editor Michael Savage says that all MPs are now “grappling” with how to vote on Friday. He writes that some talk of being “bombarded” with campaign material from both sides of the debate – as well as being “swayed by personal stories of friends, families and constituents”.
A warning from former Conservative security minister Tom Tugendhat that Britain must “stand firm” in the face of nuclear threats from Vladimir Putin, is the lead in the Sunday Express.
His comments come after the Russian president’s decision to update his nuclear strategy – which the paper says would make it easier for him to “push the button and trigger World War III”. Tugendhat says the Putin is using threats calculated to “frighten us into inaction” – something which he says “has worked for too long”.
The Observer reports that Home Office officials have admitted they completely “lost their grip” on an asylum processing centre in Kent – and that led to 18,000 people being unlawfully detained in what were described as “horrific conditions” in 2022.
The paper says documents released in the High Court last week showed that the situation at the Manston asylum centre was much worse than reports originally suggested. It says the previous government had agreed to hold a “statutory inquiry” into what went wrong at the centre, but Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has downgraded it to an “independent inquiry” which will have fewer powers to compel witnesses to attend.
An watchdog inquiry into the actions of the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police, following the fatal stabbing of three people in the city in 2023, is the lead in the Sunday Mirror.
The paper says it comes after the families of Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley Kumar said that they believed Kate Meynell had tried to “gag” the press. It reports that she will be investigated by the police watchdog for allegedly trying to stop journalists from revealing that knifeman, Valdo Calocane, had twice been reported to the police for stalking. The paper says Nottinghamshire police declined to comment.
The Sunday Times reports that parts of Buckingham Palace are about to undergo a 10-year refurbishment costing £369 million. The paper says it will see the closure of most of the Palace’s “grandest” rooms – meaning all state visits will take place at Windsor Castle until 2027.
The paper also reveals that the King is now using the Orleans room where he was born in 1948 – and quotes a friend as saying that he will enjoy “the symmetry of discharging his duties as monarch, in the room where he was born”.
