Newspaper headlines: Brexit extension leads many papers By BBC News

Staff Published duration 6 April 2019

image caption Brexit continues to grab headlines at the end of what the Daily Telegraph calls "the week that [Theresa] May risked everything... and achieved nothing". Under a banner titled "Brexit betrayal", the paper suggests the PM's request to delay the UK's exit from the EU - and the possibility of holding European elections - pose an "existential threat" to the Tory Party.

image caption European leaders have also given a "cool response" to Mrs May's request for a short postponement of the Brexit date to 30 June, according to the FT Weekend. One senior EU diplomat told the paper EU leaders were more likely to approve a longer extension, with strict conditions.

image caption Meanwhile, the Guardian reports complaints from Labour frontbenchers that Mrs May is refusing to compromise in the cross-party talks aimed at avoiding both a long delay to Brexit and the need to elect UK representatives to the European Parliament.

image caption The Daily Express finds a non-Brexit story emerging from Westminster. Chancellor Philip Hammond is given space to tell readers how changes to the tax regime, coming into effect from Saturday, will leave more money in the pockets of "families, strivers, grafters and carers".

image caption "Police for private hire" is the headline on the i Weekend's front page. It reports the results of an investigation suggesting that businesses - including a supermarket chain, property developer and airline - paid £123m to British police forces to have officers provide security for premises.

image caption A "big cat" is on the loose in Cornwall, according to the Sun. Under the headline "Pawldark", the paper says five pet cats are dead and deer are missing, amid sightings of a black panther. Police experts have taken a plaster-cast of a paw print almost 5in wide, the paper adds.

image caption And the Daily Mirror carries comments from the actress June Brown - EastEnders' Dot Cotton - explaining that her eyesight is failing as a result of macular degeneration.

Papers assess Theresa May's request for a second delay to the Brexit process.

The Daily Telegraph highlights "fears that the EU will try to force through a year-long extension to Article 50, meaning Britain would still be in Europe almost four years after voting to leave".

However, the Guardian reports that France , Spain and Belgium are arguing that any extension to the Brexit process should be very limited.

The paper says it's seen a note from an EU27 meeting which suggests allowing Britain to delay its departure by just "a couple of weeks" - well short of Theresa May's suggested deadline of 30 June.

It describes sterling as having been "eerily calm" in recent weeks and suggests that's because investors simply don't know what's going to happen and are hedging their bets, rather than a sign of long-term stability.

Time to go?

Independent Group MP Heidi Allen tells the Times she has no regrets about leaving the Conservatives.

She accuses Theresa May of being too focused on the Conservative Party, rather than rising above everything and being "the arbiter for the country".

In its leader, the Telegraph says it's time for Mrs May to resign.

Until now there has been a lot of sympathy for the prime minister, it says, but any sense that she was doing her best in the name of duty has gone.

image copyright UK Parliament/Mark Duffy

The Times reports that Tory leadership contenders are gearing up for the battle to replace her.

It says Dominic Raab has employed two full-time staff, funded by donors, while Boris Johnson has apparently received more than £60,000 from wealthy backers.

The Telegraph has drawn a link between what it calls "the kingmakers" of the leadership battle.

It says candidates are fighting to win the backing of five key MPs, all of whom have a military past, with the likes of Tobias Ellwood, Johnny Mercer and Tom Tugendhat seen as key players because of their tactical know-how and courage under fire.

An end to austerity?

image copyright PA

He says the public finances have been restored to health and Britain can now start to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.

In the Telegraph, Conservative backbencher Esther McVey launches a stinging attack on her colleague, Sir Oliver Letwin, accusing him of having ripped the rulebook to pieces by rushing through legislation to stop a no-deal Brexit.

She says he'll be seen as a "useful idiot" by "the Marxists running the Labour party" and warns a future Labour government could do the same to railroad its agenda through Parliament.

Away from Westminster

The Daily Mail reports comments by the chief constable of West Midlands Police, who told MPs his officers weren't handing out cannabis warnings to everyone caught with the drug.

Dave Thompson said doing so would be "disastrous" for offenders' life chances. The Mail isn't impressed, calling it a "cannabis surrender".

The backlash against Brunei's decision to introduce a law which makes gay sex punishable by death makes the front page of the FT

image copyright AFP

It says a global boycott of the Dorchester hotel group, which is owned by the Sultan of Brunei, is growing. STA Travel says it will no longer sell flights on Royal Brunei Airlines.

Writing in the i, singer Will Young criticises Oxford University for failing to remove the honorary degree awarded to the sultan.

East of Bodmin

Finally, there are fears a panther or puma could be on the loose in the Cornish village of Harrowbarrow, according to the tabloids.

The Sun says a man was chased into his house by the beast, which has apparently attacked dogs and cats as well as leaving a five-inch paw print in the mud.