Newspaper headlines: PM faces 'chorus of Tory demands' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 2 July 2017

image copyright AFP/Getty Images image caption The papers report on a growing battle within the cabinet over austerity and public spending

The Sunday Telegraph says a new front has opened up in the cabinet battle over austerity.

The paper says Education Secretary Justine Greening has told Prime Minister Theresa May the Tories should abandon plans to cut per-pupil funding, with the change in direction being announced soon so that schools know where they stand.

According to the paper, senior figures at Number 10 admit they are braced for "a big battle" over spending this summer.

The Sunday Times reports that more than 20 MPs cornered the Conservative chief whip last week , demanding change, and more than double that number are threatening to rebel over spending plans unless the 1% public sector pay cap is lifted.

University tuition fees are the focus in the Mail on Sunday , which leads with the suggestion by Mrs May's most senior minister, Damian Green, that a national debate may be needed on the issue.

The paper also highlights what it describes as fading public support for austerity policies, but it notes that lifting the pay cap, and linking it to inflation instead, would cost the Treasury an extra £1.4bn a year alone.

The Sun on Sunday reports that Ms Greening and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt are leading the charge for public sector workers to get a pay rise.

"There are very good arguments for continuing to bear down on the deficit," a cabinet source tells the paper, "but the case on public sector pay is becoming irresistible."

According to The Observer , Mr Hunt may press for the lifting of the public sector pay cap for NHS workers, citing a pay review body report that suggests the costs of plugging gaps caused by staff shortages could soon be greater than the savings.

It refers to a "chorus of Tory demands" facing Mrs May.

Writing in The Sunday Mirror , shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth says nurses and paramedics should not have to wait until the autumn Budget to learn whether the pay cap will be lifted.

But The Sunday Times is having none of it.

Describing it as "a government in danger of losing its financial wits," the paper warns that a Conservative Party that stands for nothing, including fiscal discipline, will flounder.

The Telegraph , likewise, urges Chancellor Philip Hammond to resist the calls for change, saying the government is in danger of giving up on financial prudence as though it is a television programme we have got bored with.

The country as a whole, it says, should have the moral fibre to face the financial reality in front of us.

But The Observer argues that capping public sector pay has fuelled recruitment and retention problems.

It is not just mean, the paper says, it is a false economy.

'Awkward' scientific findings

The news that British fishermen are to have the exclusive rights to a 12-mile zone around the coastline leads The Sunday Express

The paper welcomes it as a first step towards taking control of the country's fishing policy.

The new Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, tells The Sunday Times that his father's fishing business was hit by the EU, and pulling out of the London Fisheries Convention was "a chance to put things right".

The Sunday Times also has what it calls "awkward" scientific findings.

Researchers in Rotterdam have apparently found that men's average IQ is four points above women's - because they typically have bigger brains.

The paper describes the finding as the latest twist in a debate with powerful political implications.

It notes that in the 19th Century, the view that women's smaller brains made them less intelligent was used to justify denying them rights such as voting.

Murray's the man

Finally, the day before the start of Wimbledon has brought with it the inevitable exhaustive analysis of Andy Murray's chances.

"It's been brutal but I'm ready," is the headline in The Mirror , which describes how a hip injury has wrought havoc with the player's preparations.

The Express says the man who it describes as "Battler Andy" has grown into a dignified champion, and it wishes him good luck in defence of his Wimbledon title.

Reporting that Murray has now declared himself fit, The Sun recalls how it urged millions of its readers on Saturday to collectively lay their soothing hands on a front-page picture of his troublesome hip.