Newspaper headlines: Papers focus on PM's rethink of Brexit deal timings By BBC News

Staff Published duration 17 December 2019

image copyright AFP image caption The PM has welcomed the new Conservative MPs to Westminster

The government's move to make it unlawful to extend the Brexit transition period beyond the end of next year is the main story for many of Tuesday's papers.

The Daily Telegraph says Prime Minister Boris Johnson argues that unless the EU is working to a hard deadline, it will inevitably try to keep Britain tied to its current trading arrangements for as long as possible.

For the Times , the move dispels speculation that, with his 80-strong majority, Mr Johnson would "tack to a softer Brexit" and extend the transition period because he wouldn't be so beholden to Eurosceptic Tory MPs.

But the Independent website says it will "force businesses to consider once more whether they should make expensive contingency plans" for a possible no-deal on New Year's Day 2021, having already "wasted money on abortive preparations for departure" twice this year.

There are many pictures of what the the Mail calls "Boris's blue wall" of new MPs from Labour's former strongholds posing with the prime minister in Westminster Hall.

For the Times , they are the "blue army" who will "help change the face of the Commons". Among them - the Daily Telegraph says - are a TV quiz show winner, a former striking miner and a dolphin trainer.

But the Mail warns that the MPs can't rest on their laurels - and they will be judged on what the government accomplishes. The paper puts forward a number of proposals it says would prove that the Tories are working tirelessly for former Labour communities. Most importantly - it says - billions should be pumped into road and rail links so that people commuting from depressed towns to thriving cities becomes as routine as travelling into London.

An article in the Sun suggests that Mr Johnson should invest in science, research and development and skills "to tempt world-class companies in emerging sectors such as renewable energy and advanced manufacturing to cluster in his party's new heartlands".

There's much interest in the decision to give Nicky Morgan a peerage and allow her to keep her job as culture secretary, despite her decision to stand down as an MP.

image copyright PA Media image caption Nicky Morgan stood down as MP for Loughborough at the general election

The Times says Mr Johnson wants to "avoid losing one of the faces of One Nation conservatism".

HuffPost UK says there are signs that her appointment may only be temporary, pending a full-scale Cabinet reshuffle expected in February.

According to the Spectator, the message of Monday's minor reshuffle was "business as normal" - the reshuffle in the New Year will "tell a bolder tale".

The Guardian focuses on the Labour leadership campaign, saying the shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, has "cleared the way for her friend [shadow business secretary] Rebecca Long-Bailey to run as the leftwing successor to Jeremy Corbyn, deciding instead to focus on becoming deputy leader".

image copyright PA Wire

The Times reports that "the two have shared a flat in London since becoming MPs in 2015 and their friendship is thought to be behind their reluctance to compete for the same position".

For its main story, the Mail reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said it's wrong to expect the royals to behave like "superhuman saints". The paper says Mr Welby spoke out after the "Duke of York scandal" and insisted that "everybody is human".

The Duke of York has "categorically" denied claims by an American woman, Virginia Giuffre, that she was forced to have sex with him on three occasions.

The protests in India against a new citizenship law that gives fast track citizenship to people from neighbouring countries - except Muslims - are widely covered.

image copyright Reuters image caption Protesters in Delhi burned an effigy of PM Narendra Modi

The Guardian thinks the landslide re-election of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, has provided the "green light to ram through the most-wanted items on the Hindu nationalist wishlist".

The Financial Times says critics see the law as breaking with Mahatma Gandhi's vision of India as being home for people of all faiths, and signalling to India's Muslims that they don't fully belong.

Finally, there are warnings that motorists getting away for Christmas face a "frantic Friday" with record numbers expected to take to the roads.

According to the Daily Telegraph, chaos on the railways - caused by the new winter timetable, engineering works and strikes - means that more people will be forced on to the roads, and cars will be "bumper-to-bumper".