Newspaper headlines: 'May of reckoning' for PM's Brexit deal By BBC News

Staff Published duration 12 March 2019

image copyright EPA

Nearly every paper and news website focuses on the proposed changes to the Brexit deal announced on Monday night.

There is agreement on how much the alterations come at the 11th hour: for the Guardian they are "last ditch" ; the i describes them as a "last roll of the dice"; and, according to Huffpost UK , they are a "last chance" for Theresa May to avoid "Brexit humiliation".

There is less consensus about whether Mrs May will succeed in getting her deal through the Commons.

The Daily Mail pictures her and the EU's lead negotiator, Michel Barnier, in Strasbourg.

"Sealed with a kiss?" its headline asks, as it says the question now becomes whether the changes will be enough to alter the outcome of today's meaningful vote.

Perhaps, says the Sun - with the headline "Backstop from dead" - as it suggests Mrs May has "breathed new life" into her agreement.

The Times says Mrs May has "claimed victory" , and expects Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to revise his previous legal opinion that the UK could become trapped in the Irish backstop indefinitely.

But it also points out the two groups the prime minister needs to win round - Tory Brexiteers and the party's DUP allies - both "withheld immediate judgment".

An unnamed senior Eurosceptic tells the paper Mrs May's proposals face a "rough ride" because they rely on proving that the EU is acting in "bad faith" if the UK is to exit the backstop.

The source asks: "How on earth do you prove that?"

Away from Brexit, an investigation by the Times suggests that one in five women killed by their current or former partners had been in touch with the police.

The paper points out the figures - which cover the 12 months to last March - coincide with "plummeting" arrest rates for domestic violence.

A charity for stalking victims accuses the police of "having blood on their hands" over the issue.

The Guardian, meanwhile, focuses on violence committed against young people - as it reports Freedom of Information requests show that nearly 700 schoolchildren were victims of knife crime in the West Midlands last year.

Forty-one of them were of primary school age, it says, and 13 of the victims were just 10 years old.

"Ground them" is the headline in the Daily Mirror , as it reports the pilot turned Labour peer Lord Tunnicliffe has suggested the model of Boeing aircraft that crashed in Ethiopia on Sunday should not be flying.

The Sun details concerns expressed by customers of the holiday firm TUI, which has decided to keep its 787 Max 8s in service.

One customer asks: "Isn't it better to be safe than sorry?"

The UK's accounting watchdog is to be scrapped in favour of a stronger regulator with powers to issue harsher penalties and investigate company directors, the Financial Times reports.

It follows a damning review last year into the existing body, the Financial Reporting Council, and a string of accounting controversies, such as those concerning Carillion, BHS and Patisserie Valerie.

If all of that makes you want to seek the solitude of the great outdoors... well do not head to Edale, in the Peak District, suggests the Times.

The Ordnance Survey says it was the most popular destination with users of its phone app - with more than 300,000 of them logging walks there last year.

To really get away from it all, head to the app's least visited destination, the Hebridean island of Lewis - truly the destination for the discerning hiker, the Times says.