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'Healey to defer defence spend target' and 'Fergie's coming home'

News imageThe headline on the front page of the Financial Times reads: 'Healy to defer defence spend target.'
Several of Saturday's papers focus on the UK's defence spending. The Financial Times says Chancellor John Healey "will shelve his own target of spending 3% of Britain's GDP on defence by 2030" in his first Budget in October.
News imageThe headline on the front page of the Daily Mail reads: 'Surrender!'
Healey has been called a "hypocrite" by critics in reaction to his plans to scale back his target, the Daily Mail reports. Healey resigned as defence secretary in June in protest at then-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's spending plans.
News imageThe headline on the front page of the Daily Telegraph reads: 'America's Falklands threat to Britain.'
In a move to apply pressure on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to increase defence spending, the US has threatened to oppose British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, the Daily Telegraph reports. According to the paper, the proposal is "among measures being drawn up" by Pentagon officials as an incentive to reach "Nato's 5% spending pledge".
News imageThe headline on the front page of the Daily Express reads: 'Burnham vows to stay out of assisted dying vote.'
The Daily Express headlines on Burnham's vow to abstain in the assisted dying vote and remain neutral when the bill returns to the Commons. His stance is expected to bring relief to campaigners, the paper reports.
News imageThe headline on the front page of the Daily Mirror reads: 'King's support for tragic police families.'
King Charles III has written to the families of the two police officers who were killed in the A66 horror crash, the Daily Mirror reports. A royal source describes the King as "shocked" by the event, the paper says.
News imageThe headline on the front page of the i Weekend reads: 'Burnham bounce: Labour leapfrogs Farage in polls - after he loses voters to Restore.'
New polling for the i Weekend says Labour has leapfrogged Reform UK in the polls. Burnham is the only leader with a positive approval rating, the paper says, as Nigel Farage loses one in 10 of his voters to the Restore Britain party.
News imageThe headline on the front page of the Times reads: 'PM warned over "stupid" tax raid on capital gains.'
British economic advisor Lord O'Neill of Gatley has told the Times that if the UK government raises taxes in the Budget, it means ministers are not "thinking about growth as sincerely as they claim they are". The chancellor is considering tax rises "as concerns mount about the impact of the Iran war on the public finances", the paper reports, which O'Neill called "stupid".
News imageThe headline on the front page of the Guardian reads: 'We have nothing left. The flood took away everything.'
The Guardian leads with a picture of a woman who survived the Nepal flash floods under the headline "the flood took everything away". The paper reports on three women who lost their "sons, husbands, and homes", while countless others wait for news about their missing loved ones.
News imageThe headline on the front page of the Independent reads: 'The true cost of Brexit to British trade: £11.7bn.'
The Independent also features pictures from the devastating Nepal flood disaster, including four Britons who are among the missing. The paper headlines on the "true cost of Brexit" to British trade being £11.7bn in the red.
News imageThe headline on the front page of the Sun reads: 'Fergie's coming home.'
Sarah Ferguson is heading back to the UK after leaving the country when new details emerged about the links to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein earlier this year, according to the Sun. Coming in the wake of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's return to the country, Ferguson is renting a £10,000-a-week house in the Home Counties, the paper says.
News imageThe headline on the front page of the Daily Star: 'TV Joey: I still can't tell time.'
And the Daily Star features British TV personality Joey Essex who says he still can't tell the time.

The FT Weekend leads with a report that Chancellor John Healey will "shelve" his own target of spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, when he sets out his first Budget in October. A government insider tells the paper that "bigger decisions on an uplift in defence spending" will be delayed until a Treasury review next year.

Under the headline "Surrender" theDaily Mail says Healey has been branded a "hypocrite", given he resigned as Sir Keir Starmer's defence secretary because he believed not enough was being spent on the military.

Any such delay will risk angering the US, according to the Daily Telegraph, which says Washington is looking at ways to "incentivise" the UK to increase defence spending. The paper says that one measure being considered is opposing British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

As the chancellor ponders his Budget, a former economic adviser to Andy Burnham tells the Times that it would be "stupid" to raise taxes on wealth. Senior allies of the prime minister are reported to be calling for an increase in capital gains tax but Lord Jim O'Neill says this would encourage entrepreneurs to leave the country. In an interview with the i Weekend, the former director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies Paul Johnson says the government should aim to reduce the "huge" amount spent on benefits.

The Daily Express welcomes Burnham's announcement that he will stay neutral in the vote on assisted dying. It says his commitment will "bring relief" to campaigners who back a change in the law. But the Guardian points out the prime minister "has no wish to affect the process in either direction".

"Fergie's coming home" is the headline in the Sun. It says that Sarah Ferguson is returning from "exile", after "fleeing" the UK when emails she had sent to Jeffrey Epstein were revealed. The former Duchess of York has previously said her friendship with Epstein was a "gigantic error of judgment".

And the front page of the Daily Mirror says the King has written to the families of the two police officers who were killed in the crash on the A66 last weekend. A royal source tells the paper that Charles was "shocked by the devastating events".

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