Newspaper headlines: Healey’s ‘tax raid on banks’ and Brand ‘topless monster’

“Healey plans tax raid on banks”, declares the Daily Telegraph, external. According to the Guardian, one option understood, external to be under discussion for the Budget would be to reverse cuts to the bank surcharge made by the former Conservative chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

The paper says this would raise upwards of £2bn a year. But banks have told the Telegraph that increasing the surcharge would cost the economy £20bn. The Treasury says decisions on tax are for the chancellor to set out.

The i Paper reports that there will be a “double” rise, external in energy bills next year. Forecasts suggest the annual price cap will go up by £276 in January. According to the i Paper, the chancellor is also unlikely to recommend keeping VAT off electricity bills beyond March.

“Dumb & dumber”, is the Daily Mail’s headline, external take on the government’s reforms for schools in England. The paper draws attention to plans from the education secretary, Lucy Powell, that speaking skills will become just as important as reading and writing in GCSE assessments.

The Mail’s sketch writer, Quentin Letts, says in a speech about the importance of clear communication, Powell was “as clear as public-lavatory glass”.

Europe’s biggest salmon producers are beginning to feed chicken to their fish, in a move the Financial Times says, external breaks a “longstanding taboo in the hunt for cheap protein”.

Consumers are said to have found the practice “unnatural”, but one expert quoted in the FT says “the market seems to be more ready”. Salmon producers also claim using chicken cuts costs and carbon emissions.

Much is made of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first public engagement together since returning to the UK. Metro says Meghan was “beaming in burgundy”, external in Nottingham, while the Daily Mirror declares that her husband was “happy as HARRY”., external “Crowds treat Sussexes like royalty”, is headline in the Times, external. “The obvious question”, the Daily Mail asks, “is what can the Palace do about it?” , externalThe answer: “very little.”