Newspaper headlines: Labour Brexit vote move and Oscar 'queen' Colman By BBC News

Staff Published duration 26 February 2019

image copyright Getty Images image caption Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on a recent visit to Brussels

Labour's support for another referendum if its own Brexit plans are rejected makes the lead for most papers.

The Spectator website says there are a chunk of Labour MPs who refused to back an amendment delaying Brexit, so they are unlikely to come out in support of one that could potentially stop it from happening at all.

On the New Statesman website, though, frontbench advocates of Labour's referendum plan say it will service both halves of the party - those in Leave seats can sell it as a vote for a deal, while those in Remain areas can cast it as a vote for a new referendum.

The Financial Times thinks Labour's shift will increase pressure on Conservative Eurosceptic MPs to back Theresa May's deal, rather than extend the parliamentary stalemate and risk the prospect of Brexit being overturned.

'Dissidents'

According to the paper, a group of 23 "dissidents" met secretly at the Commons to discuss how to stop such a scenario - with as many as 15 said to be ready to resign.

However, to calm their rage, she wants to keep the option of no-deal alive as a negotiating tool until later in the year, the paper adds.

Several papers report that police are investigating three railway workers for common assault after a homeless man was soaked with dirty soapy water.

The Daily Mail says they were caught on camera arguing with him as he lay on the pavement against the front of Sutton station in south London.

The Times reports that the man is a diabetic who had just been discharged from hospital after a chest infection.

February scorcher

Pictures abound of people taking to parks, beaches and waterways to enjoy what the Daily Mirror calls the winter heat wave.

image copyright Getty Images

Elsewhere, there is shock at the findings of a study that one in 10 people over the age of 40 has type 2 diabetes - a record level driven by the obesity epidemic.

Star of the Oscars

Finally, the papers take Olivia Colman to their hearts after her Oscars acceptance speech.

image copyright Reuters

The Daily Mirror says to blow a raspberry and stick two fingers up at the teleprompter telling her to wrap up her speech and walk away with the best actress gong must rank as one of the best performances of her life.