Newspaper headlines: PM bid to bolster Union and factory jobs at risk By BBC News

Staff Published duration 29 July 2019

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Many of the papers focus on the work being done to prepare for a no-deal Brexit.

The Daily Express tells how Boris Johnson has put the government on full alert, ordering daily emergency planning summits. The Daily Telegraph says there will be three new committees to accelerate preparations.

And the Times reports Mr Johnson briefed cabinet yesterday on a stripped-down Whitehall structure under which Michael Gove would take day-to-day control.

The HuffPost UK website says the prime minister is understood to want to improve on the way previous committees operated, because he believed they did not move fast enough.

Mr Johnson is set to give European leaders the cold shoulder, according to the Daily Mail , as he ramps up preparations.

A senior government source tells the paper he has no plans to visit European capitals in the hope of reopening talks.

How much of what is happening is a concerted attempt to get the country ready for leaving without a deal or merely posturing to show Brussels that the UK is serious about doing this remains to be seen, suggests the i.

The Guardian focuses on a report from a think-tank, the Institute for Government, which predicts Mr Johnson's domestic agenda will be crushed by the pressing needs of the emergency that would follow a no-deal Brexit.

The i highlights another aspect of the report - that a disorderly Brexit would place unprecedented pressure on the Union.

As Mr Johnson prepares to visit Scotland, several papers look at what the PoliticsHome website calls the tense relationship between him and the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson.

The Scotsman suggests the visit threatens to be overshadowed by a major clash, after she said she could not back leaving the EU without a deal.

The Times thinks Mr Johnson's encounter with Ms Davidson is likely to be bruising. But, the paper adds, the prime minister's team have offered to take soundings on policies which will "push Scotland".

And the Scottish Daily Mail predicts Mr Johnson will fly into a political storm, saying they will meet this afternoon to "clear the air".

image copyright EPA image caption Police in Hong Kong fire tear gas and rubber bullets

The Financial Times highlights a warning from the finance secretary in Hong Kong that the mass demonstrations there over the past two months are taking their toll on the economy.

Meanwhile the Telegraph feels the Chinese state will find the democratic imperative hard to quell in Hong Kong just as President Putin will in Russia.

The Times argues the mass arrest of Russian protestors on Saturday is no long-term guarantee of political stability.

The prime minister's creation of the first government office to care for veterans of the armed forces is a step in the right direction, the Sun says

Mr Johnson has appointed the former Army officer, Johnny Mercer, as Veterans' Minister.

image copyright Getty Images image caption The first World Cup of the computer game, Fortnite, finished on Sunday

There are many photos of 15-year-old Jaden Ashman, who has won nearly £1m after coming second with his team-mate in the first World Cup of the computer game, Fortnite.

The Mail tells how his mother - like many others - had often despaired of her son's obsession with computer games. Desperate to make him concentrate on his homework instead of staring at a screen, she at one point threw out his games console and snapped his headset.