:00:00. > :00:19.Hello, and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be
:00:20. > :00:22.With me are Kate Devlin, Political Correspondent
:00:23. > :00:28.at The Herald and Peter Spiegel, News Editor at The Financial Times.
:00:29. > :00:35.Nice to see you both, waiting patiently so we can get on air! Now
:00:36. > :00:38.for the front pages, starting with the Guardian. It says that Theresa
:00:39. > :00:41.May is putting off the controversial rise in national insurance
:00:42. > :00:46.contributions for the self-employed until the autumn. The Times claims
:00:47. > :00:49.her decision to delay the measure would be embarrassing for the
:00:50. > :00:53.Chancellor who pledged not to show it difficult decisions on tax. The
:00:54. > :00:56.Daily Telegraph says the Prime Minister is refusing to back down
:00:57. > :01:01.and says she denies breaking a manifesto pledge not to raise tax.
:01:02. > :01:05.Conservative Party whips warned Mrs May that they did not have the
:01:06. > :01:09.numbers of MPs needed to push the budget measure through the Commons,
:01:10. > :01:13.according to the Daily Mail. The Sun also focuses on the National
:01:14. > :01:16.Insurance story and announces its own campaign: calling on the
:01:17. > :01:20.Chancellor to scrap plans. Theresa May could trigger Brexit talks as
:01:21. > :01:29.early as next Tuesday, says the express, after her trip to the EU
:01:30. > :01:34.summit. The head of the euro bank says the outlook for Euro growth is
:01:35. > :01:37.more optimistic. A and E waiting Times are the worst on record
:01:38. > :01:42.according to the Daily Mail, there is data on waiting time showing 85%
:01:43. > :01:44.of patients were seen within four hours in January and that is far
:01:45. > :01:54.below the 95% target. We will stop with the Ferrari over
:01:55. > :02:01.National Insurance. We begin with the Telegraph. Theresa May rejects
:02:02. > :02:04.breaking the Tory tax promise. The PM is defiant over National
:02:05. > :02:10.Insurance as she faces budget rebellion from 100 of her MPs. How
:02:11. > :02:16.is this not breaking a pledge, if they said they would not raise tax,
:02:17. > :02:19.and now they are? In the newsroom we watched press conference in Brussels
:02:20. > :02:23.where she tried to explain why this was not the breaking of a Tory party
:02:24. > :02:28.manifesto, I am not sure I understood it. I imagine most voters
:02:29. > :02:31.didn't understand it either. It was interesting if you look to the
:02:32. > :02:35.coverage of the different papers, how differently they played the
:02:36. > :02:48.press conference. The Telegraph focused on her defending of the tax.
:02:49. > :02:52.Others called is shifting of the date of the legislation and that it
:02:53. > :02:56.is underhanded. Everyone has a different view. The most interesting
:02:57. > :02:59.thing to me in the Telegraph story of the 100 Tory MPs ready to sort of
:03:00. > :03:04.defy her. We have an amendment here being prepared with 30 MPs signing
:03:05. > :03:09.on and that could have killed it. It seems only a matter of time before
:03:10. > :03:12.she has to make a U-turn. She did not close off that possibility. She
:03:13. > :03:17.left the door open that there might be a U-turn at some point. All of us
:03:18. > :03:20.in the media today had a slightly different view of where this is
:03:21. > :03:26.going and she didn't really help us in the press conference. Kate, you
:03:27. > :03:29.are nodding sagely. I agree with all of that. One of the things the
:03:30. > :03:34.Telegraph has rightly picked up on is her explanation about what had
:03:35. > :03:38.happened. It is important to remember that this is what happened
:03:39. > :03:42.after the general election so they are pointing to the small print
:03:43. > :03:46.three months after voters were told something in a manifesto, and she
:03:47. > :03:50.says no amendments or concerns were raised at the time and what she
:03:51. > :03:54.means by that is not by ordinary voters but by MPs in the House of
:03:55. > :03:57.Commons and it points to one of the problems which is why the Tories are
:03:58. > :04:07.here in the first place. When you have a weak opposition you have no
:04:08. > :04:09.one pointing out this kind of problems to you so you end up
:04:10. > :04:12.creating a storm for yourself and really having your own MPs becoming
:04:13. > :04:15.the opposition, and that is what we are seeing today. The Sun is in a
:04:16. > :04:24.campaigning mode on the same story. Fight fans can, we had a spite than
:04:25. > :04:31.man yesterday. They are saying, come on, grafters get behind us. It has
:04:32. > :04:34.been a terrible few days for Philip Hammond. His reputation as a safe
:04:35. > :04:39.pair of hands is very much in tatters. Just over this? I know it
:04:40. > :04:42.is important if you are self-employed and you will face
:04:43. > :04:47.these tax rises but is it really going to be his undoing? Tory MPs
:04:48. > :04:52.asking tonight one of the things she announced was that she was going to
:04:53. > :04:55.delay this and bring in a review, which they had announced, which
:04:56. > :04:59.would look at whether self-employed people could get more benefits,
:05:00. > :05:04.including parental leave, after they have a child. If you were in the
:05:05. > :05:08.Treasury before the budget surely you would have linked the two
:05:09. > :05:12.already so you wouldn't have to come up with this attempt to buy them off
:05:13. > :05:15.24 hours later and you would've thought through the policy to start
:05:16. > :05:21.with. The other issue, and what we have seen is the incremental, she
:05:22. > :05:25.has left it open a U-turn. David Cameron recognised these things
:05:26. > :05:29.quicker, he is to put his hand up and say, we need a U-turn, and
:05:30. > :05:33.killed the story quicker. He would not have had a campaign on the front
:05:34. > :05:38.page of the Sun. It is the Tory press who are coming after her. It
:05:39. > :05:41.is the opposition within her own party and the press that had
:05:42. > :05:45.supported her thus far that is coming out against her and the Sun
:05:46. > :05:54.has decided to campaign on this, one of the most conservative papers in
:05:55. > :05:56.the country, which tells you all you need to know about where it is
:05:57. > :05:59.going. The Times are not quite saying a U-turn yet, they are saying
:06:00. > :06:04.a blow to Philip Hammond is Theresa May backpedals on tax. We be talking
:06:05. > :06:08.about this earlier on, a small backpedal but it is about the
:06:09. > :06:14.timing. It is going to come in the autumn rather than in the spring. Is
:06:15. > :06:18.that backpedal, I guess it. Again at the last minute we were getting
:06:19. > :06:22.ready to set our front page and we thought it was more minor than the
:06:23. > :06:25.Times is but this is the problem with the story, everyone is making
:06:26. > :06:29.their own judgment on it but in any case none of it is good news for the
:06:30. > :06:32.Prime Minister. Know, and she got asked about in Brussels as well and
:06:33. > :06:39.she was there to talk about the summit, which we will get to. Let us
:06:40. > :06:45.look at the FT. A new Scots poll is seen as almost inevitable, it says.
:06:46. > :06:49.There is a picture that of Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister,
:06:50. > :06:58.with Theresa May. How close can they get to saying there will be a
:06:59. > :07:03.referendum, without saying it? I think this is a very good story
:07:04. > :07:06.because what it points to now is where the row is happening and the
:07:07. > :07:11.pace of how much this debate has changed in the last couple of weeks
:07:12. > :07:16.is frenetic. Now the row is becoming about when, about the timing around
:07:17. > :07:20.when you can have a referendum and whether you can have it before or
:07:21. > :07:24.after Brexit. We have a front-page story with the former Scottish
:07:25. > :07:27.secretary, the man who was in charge last time the Scots went to the
:07:28. > :07:32.polls about this, and he is saying it would fail one of the tests from
:07:33. > :07:36.the last time, one of the three key tests, and he is saying it wouldn't
:07:37. > :07:41.be legitimate to holder before Brexit. That is something the UK
:07:42. > :07:45.Government also suggested last week. Yes, they need to make sure we were
:07:46. > :07:49.out of the EU before it happens, but if you run a second referendum we
:07:50. > :07:53.have to be sure of your numbers? The numbers are close but they still
:07:54. > :07:56.point to a defeat. The reason we thought this was an important story
:07:57. > :08:02.is exactly why you said it, the question of whether it is gone, and
:08:03. > :08:06.now it is a question of when. We have the source is very close to the
:08:07. > :08:10.Prime Minister and they see that Nicola Sturgeon is pushing for a
:08:11. > :08:15.referendum before Brexit but they want to push it to 2019. Right now
:08:16. > :08:19.basically Downing Street has decided this will happen and she has set all
:08:20. > :08:22.the signals there will be a second referendum can we delay it long
:08:23. > :08:25.enough to make it harder? If you have a referendum while you are
:08:26. > :08:29.still in the EU there is a vague chance you never leave, whereas once
:08:30. > :08:34.you're out, trying to get back in again, with the Spanish opposition
:08:35. > :08:40.such as Catalonia and the thought of joining the euro it, it all becomes
:08:41. > :08:45.more complicated. In terms of actual independence for Scotland if Britain
:08:46. > :08:50.is out of the EU but Scotland, more people in Scotland voted to stay in
:08:51. > :08:53.the EU, Willie not Gareth and I is the independence vote? It will
:08:54. > :08:56.galvanise some people, but there was an interesting strain of the
:08:57. > :08:59.Independent state and you could tout rise them as wanting to be
:09:00. > :09:03.Independent from both the union of the United Kingdom and the union of
:09:04. > :09:07.the European Union so there is this kind of question mark about whether
:09:08. > :09:16.if you take out the people who voted for Brexit, are the SNP representing
:09:17. > :09:21.the 45% anymore hasn't gone down to 27%? That is interesting. The other
:09:22. > :09:24.thing we have learned in the last few weeks is that it is Northern
:09:25. > :09:28.Ireland now as well as Scotland. This is even more complicated for
:09:29. > :09:30.them because suddenly you are seeing a surge in national support because
:09:31. > :09:34.people are worried about a hard border and what has been for 20
:09:35. > :09:39.years rather free-flowing economic zone. It is going to become even
:09:40. > :09:47.ever harder for her in the couple of years. Let us look at a different
:09:48. > :09:53.story, NHS crisis, A has the worst month on record. This is waiting
:09:54. > :09:56.Times for patients to be seen within four hours. 85% were seen in that
:09:57. > :10:01.target time in January, which is short of the 95% target. Hospitals
:10:02. > :10:06.are being told they have more money so they should sort it out. This
:10:07. > :10:10.story will not go away for the government. You feel for them, they
:10:11. > :10:13.are between a rock and a hard place. We have an ageing population of
:10:14. > :10:16.people are showing up the hospitals will often and it is almost like a
:10:17. > :10:21.permanent winter now and we used to long lines just in the winter but
:10:22. > :10:24.now statistic show it will continue into the warmer months. There is
:10:25. > :10:29.just no more money. There is nothing that can be done. A lot of people we
:10:30. > :10:32.talked to in the Treasury said that they thought that some of the
:10:33. > :10:35.initial money that they gave up front under David Cameron would
:10:36. > :10:41.carry them through this Parliament and at least there would be no
:10:42. > :10:44.crisis until the next Parliament, whipped is clearly happening now as
:10:45. > :10:47.it is speeding up and they do not have the time and they have to find
:10:48. > :10:50.the money from somewhere back as we learned from the budget row, you
:10:51. > :10:56.raise taxes on anyone and it will be a problem. Where will you find the
:10:57. > :10:58.money to fund the NHS? This will be an even bigger crisis for the
:10:59. > :11:02.venture in the coming months than any of this stuff that we're talking
:11:03. > :11:06.about. The Health Secretary has been saying today at a conference that if
:11:07. > :11:09.we give you more money for health and social care, to get people out
:11:10. > :11:14.of hospital when they are better, to support them at home, it eventually
:11:15. > :11:19.will come down the pipe and he's going to say he wants results. He
:11:20. > :11:27.will say that. The problem is the buck stops with him and I think that
:11:28. > :11:33.is where the public very much as. I think it is quite a difficult one.
:11:34. > :11:36.It is difficult to blame front-line doctors and accident and emergency
:11:37. > :11:44.departments. The ministers don't blame them, do they? On a population
:11:45. > :11:49.basis everybody realises there is a problem, when you are a patient
:11:50. > :11:55.coming up against, talking to doctors, the sympathy does not lie
:11:56. > :11:59.with the government, and that is the problem they have. Let slip of the
:12:00. > :12:04.Times. The picture story taken at the Memorial to those who served in
:12:05. > :12:12.Iraq and Garristown. There is Tony Blair in the middle, looking rather
:12:13. > :12:16.grim faced. A man apart, it says. Beneath Prince Andrew is finding
:12:17. > :12:25.some to laugh about a rather sombre occasion, which is a rather jarring
:12:26. > :12:27.comparison, but rather discomforting moment for Tony Blair. A lot of
:12:28. > :12:31.people say you should not have shown up, which is probably the wrong
:12:32. > :12:35.call, but he has become a rather tragic figure. It was interesting
:12:36. > :12:39.his speech last week when he came out and talked about trying to
:12:40. > :12:42.reverse Brexit. He has clearly tried to repeatedly reinsert himself into
:12:43. > :12:47.the political process and for ever he will be tainted by this. Even
:12:48. > :12:52.people who respect him as a competent just believe that he is
:12:53. > :12:55.now so tainted by this legacy of the war that any thing he says on
:12:56. > :13:00.Brexit, he's the wrong guy at the wrong time and he has no credibility
:13:01. > :13:04.and it is actually a very moving photo for that reason. It shows him
:13:05. > :13:07.isolated and whether it was just a moment in time where he wasn't
:13:08. > :13:11.talking to anyone but it does tell the story of a barn at a place in
:13:12. > :13:23.his career now where he is politically isolated because of the
:13:24. > :13:25.legacy of the war. You can understand why the picture editor
:13:26. > :13:28.picked this. It is a man who is dammed if he doesn't and if it
:13:29. > :13:32.doesn't as well. Were he not to be there he would have faced a lot of
:13:33. > :13:35.criticism as well so there is just no right answer on a lot of things
:13:36. > :13:37.if you are Tony Blair. Now for the Guardian. Cover prams against
:13:38. > :13:40.pollution. A lot of stories of late of the levels of pollution in
:13:41. > :13:44.cities, particularly London. Parents are now being advised to cover up
:13:45. > :13:48.their prams, particular school run. I moved here from another country,
:13:49. > :13:53.one of the other options I had was to move to China but my wife said it
:13:54. > :13:57.would be too much for our kids with the asthma and bronchitis but now we
:13:58. > :14:02.have to worry about it in London! It has gotten rather unsettling that on
:14:03. > :14:05.the walk to school you have scientists and health experts
:14:06. > :14:09.advising that you should cover the pram. My kids are older now and they
:14:10. > :14:11.are not in a pram but it is unsettling and these things are
:14:12. > :14:15.showing that they are causing rising levels of asthma and bronchitis in
:14:16. > :14:19.children in London has become one of the most polluted cities in terms of
:14:20. > :14:26.particular its and the things that children are breathing in. And as a
:14:27. > :14:36.new arrival to this country, it is rather unsettling. This has been
:14:37. > :14:40.going on for years. We have been walking to school with kids in
:14:41. > :14:44.pushchairs and heavy traffic. What this might encourage people to do is
:14:45. > :14:48.not to put covers on their prams but to get in their cars as they go to
:14:49. > :14:54.school. That could make it even worse. Yes, you may indeed. Thank
:14:55. > :14:57.you very much. We got through quite a few there. A surfeit of national
:14:58. > :14:59.insurance but I'm sure we have not had the end of it.
:15:00. > :15:03.Don't forget you can see the front pages of the papers online
:15:04. > :15:07.It's all there for you seven days a week at bbc.co.uk/papers.
:15:08. > :15:11.And if you miss the programme any evening, you can watch it