Newspaper headlines: 'Abramovich clings on to $2.5bn' and 'Ban doctors strike'
The Daily Telegraph says the UK could face a bill of almost £9bn for rejoining the EU's student exchange programme, Erasmus. The government has agreed a deal for one year, but the paper says ongoing membership would be far more expensive, as the EU plans to significantly increase the cost. A government spokesperson says the £570m agreement for 2027 is a "good deal" for taxpayers.
The Daily Mail has a different figure of £6bn, asserting in its front page headline that was the cost of what it calls Sir Keir Starmer's "new bid to suck up to Brussels". It quotes the shadow foreign secretary, Dame Priti Patel, accusing Labour of "throwing millions away". In response, the minister for EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, says rejoining the Erasmus scheme is a "huge win for young people".
The Guardian says it has been told by European intelligence agencies that the Kremlin has been orchestrating a campaign of intimidation against Belgian politicians and finance executives. It says the campaign is aimed at stopping the country un-freezing billions of pounds of Russian assets and using them to help Ukraine.
According to the i Paper, the British military has been preparing to send a peacekeeping force to Ukraine as hopes rise that a deal to end the war with Russia is imminent. The newspaper says kit is being bought and plans for troop movements are being finalised.
A call by Kemi Badenoch, for Sir Keir to "show some backbone" and ban doctors from striking is highlighted by the Daily Express. Writing in the paper, Badenoch says her party would legislate to prevent doctors staging walkouts. The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, is quoted as saying he tried his "absolute best" to avoid the industrial action.
And the Times reports that the government has put an export ban on a 220-year-old Union flag, flown at the Battle of Trafalgar, to prevent it being purchased by an overseas buyer. The paper says it is hoped the three-month ban will give a gallery or museum time to raise the £450,000 needed so it can be kept for the nation.
