Sunday newspaper round-up: December election, Brexit

Boris Johnson today pledges in the Tory manifesto that his government will not raise the rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT, setting up a dramatic economic showdown with Labour over tax and spending.

In an audacious move, the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, told The Sunday Times that Labour will pay a staggering £58bn in compensation to so-called Waspi women if it wins power.

Under Labour’s plans, 3.7m women born between 1950 and 1960 who thought they would retire at 60 but have seen the state pension age rise will be paid £100 for each week of income lost. Some will receive more than £31,000, the average woman £15,000. - The Sunday Times

Boris Johnson is "on course" to win the general election, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson has said before having to deny that she was "conceding" the win to the Tories.

Ms Swinson was also again put on the backfoot for voting through cuts in the coalition government, telling the BBC "I am really sorry we did not win more battles" in Whitehall. - The Sunday Telegraph

More than 3 million women who believe they have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket after steep increases to the state pension age are being promised compensation by Labour as part of a £58bn scheme designed to end a “historic injustice”.

In the party’s latest major policy announcement, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that a “debt of honour” was owed to women born in the 1950s who say they were given insufficient notice of big changes to the state pension age. - The Observer

Boris Johnson has today vowed to maintain the size of the UK's military after claims that defence chiefs would slash army numbers and lend a new aircraft carrier to the US.

'We will not be cutting our armed forces in any form. We will be maintaining the size of our armed services,' Mr Johnson said as he unveiled the Tory manifesto in Telford. - Mail on Sunday

Seven Brexiteer big beasts in the Tory ranks, including Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, are in danger of losing their seats, according to the largest data analysis of the general election.

Analysis of nearly 270,000 voter interviews, by the modelling firm Datapraxis, has found that the Tories are on course for a comfortable majority but some of the party’s biggest Eurosceptic names could lose out, even in seats that would usually be safe.

The report predicts a potentially “historic, career-ending nightmare” on a par with Michael Portillo’s loss in 1997 for Raab, Iain Duncan Smith, Steve Baker, John Redwood, Philip Davies and Zac Goldsmith. - The Sunday Times

Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of wanting to destroy thousands of jobs after she said she would only prop up a minority Labour government if Jeremy Corbyn agreed to scrap Britain’s nuclear deterrent.

She has repeatedly said she would be prepared to make Mr Corbyn the next prime minister if there is a hung parliament, but has also set out a list of demands for any deal.

She also wants an independence referendum next year, Brexit stopped, austerity ended, Universal Credit ditched and new powers transferred to Holyrood. - The Sunday Telegraph

An anti-abortion group under investigation by the police has been accused of trying to interfere in the general election by working with a religious organisation to target a prominent Labour figure.

The Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) distributed fresh leaflets on Friday in an apparent attempt to turn the Muslim community in the London constituency of Walthamstow against the pro-choice Labour candidate Stella Creasy, who is standing for re-election.

On the leaflets were also contact details of a senior member of a separate anti-abortion organisation, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR UK), which is under investigation by the Metropolitan police over allegations of harassment against Creasy, who is due to give birth this week. - The Observer

The former head of MI6 has branded Jeremy Corbyn a danger to national security who is unfit to hold the keys to No 10.

In an extraordinary intervention, Sir Richard Dearlove said the Labour leader would pose a ‘present danger to our country’ if he became Prime Minister and is able to access top-secret documents.

Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, the former spy chief makes the devastating assertion that Mr Corbyn’s past political activities mean he should never be allowed access to such sensitive classified information. - The Mail on Sunday

Voters in Hong Kong went to the polls in record numbers today for local elections viewed as a bellwether of public support for anti-government protests that have rocked the former British territory for the past five months.

Long queues snaked around plazas and extended down streets as voters went to cast their ballot in the usually low-key poll for 452 seats in the city’s 18 district councils. The authorities set policy on issues such as bus routes and refuse collection and are given a small budget for local projects. - The Sunday Times