The news that police officer Martyn Blake has been cleared of the murder of Chris Kaba, who was shot during a police stop in south London in 2022, leads many of the papers. At the time of the incident, Mr Kaba was unarmed but was driving a car that had been linked to a previous shooting. The Metro says a jury at the Old Bailey took three hours to reach a unanimous not guilty verdict after a three-week trial.
The Daily Mirror reports that Mr Blake was “overcome with emotion” when the verdict was read out, but also quotes Mr Kaba’s family saying it has left them suffering the “deep pain of injustice” and vowing to fight on.
The verdict has fuelled police anger that Mr Blake was ever put on trial in the first place, according to the Guardian. The paper reports that officers want to see reform of a system they say punishes them for doing their job and that police chiefs are lobbying ministers to make it harder for such a trial to happen again.
The Daily Telegraph reports Mr Kaba was shot while trying to ram his way through a police roadblock and that Mr Blake told the trial he genuinely believed one of his colleagues could be killed. The paper quotes Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick as saying the decision to prosecute Mr Blake was wrong and describing him as a “hero”.
The Times quotes Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley as saying “no firearms officer sets out on duty intent on ending a life” and “the more we crush the spirit of good officers, the less they can fight crime”. The paper also reports that Mr Blake’s suspension from duties was immediately lifted following his acquittal.
Teachers and nurses are among two million people who could be dragged into paying the 40% income tax rate by the end of the decade, according to the i. Tax thresholds were frozen by the Conservative government in 2022 and were due to rise again from 2028, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves is said to be considering using the Budget next week to extend the freeze until the end of the parliament.
A government assessment of planned workplace reforms suggest the changes could cost business £5bn a year, according to the Financial Times. The paper says the reforms, contained in the employment rights bill, include a ban on “exploitative” zero-hours contracts and measures to give unions access to workplaces. The British Chambers of Commerce is quoted warning that companies risk being “buried under a mountain of additional cost”.
The Daily Mail says the assessment also found the changes could lead to more strikes and workplace disputes, though it also quotes Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner insisting they are “pro-business” and herald a “new era for working people”.
The news that police officer Martyn Blake has been cleared of the murder of Chris Kaba, who was shot during a police stop in south London in 2022, leads many of the papers. At the time of the incident, Mr Kaba was unarmed.
“Gun cop cleared” is the headline in the Daily Mirror. “Cleared in three hours”, says the Sun, which highlights what it calls the “police’s fury” at the murder trial.
The Daily Telegraph says the Crown Prosecution Service is “under fire” from both Scotland Yard and MPs, who are asking why Martyn Blake was charged in the first place.
The Times says there is “anger on all sides”, with a police source telling the paper that, if prosecutors are “trying to make an example of someone”, no one will want to work as a firearms officer.
In its leader column, the Financial Times gives its verdict on the government’s assessment that its overhaul of workers’ rights will cost businesses up to £5bn a year. The paper insists that the government’s tax plans “must avoid overburdening business and investors” and calls on the chancellor to “tread carefully”.
In the Daily Mail, shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake writes that what he calls the “draconian” bill is “a catastrophic own goal” and “an act of economic self-flagellation”.
French fashion brand Chanel is to become the sponsor of the annual Oxford and Cambridge boat race, the Financial Times reports
The Guardian reports on a revelation by the archbishop of Canterbury that he’s the descendant of a slave owner. The paper reports that Justin Welby recently discovered that his biological father – with whom he had no relationship – was the great-great-grandson of Sir James Fergusson, who owned enslaved people on a sugar plantation in Jamaica. Sir James was compensated by the British government when slavery was abolished in the 1830s.
French fashion brand Chanel is “dipping its oar” into sport for the first time by sponsoring the annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge universities, according to the Financial Times. The paper says the contest will be renamed “The Chanel J12 Boat Race” after one of the company’s high-end watches.
And the Mirror reports that a group of metal detectorists and a Somerset landowner have received a total of more than £4.3m after discovering a hoard of 1,000-year-old coins. It says the silver pennies – which have been bought for the nation – feature representations of England’s last Saxon king, Harold the Second, and its first Norman king, William the Conqueror.
According to the Times, the 2,500 coins could once have bought 500 sheep.
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