“Now brace for the interest rate hike” says the i newspaper as it warn millions will face increased mortgage payments as the cost of living crisis deepens. Former Chancellor Philip Hammond tells the paper the government is “not functional” and must get tough on wages to tackle inflation.
The Scottish Daily Express also warns over an interest rate rise. It reports economists predict a second 0.5% rise in a row next month in a bid to tackle inflation. It quotes one calling it “almost inevitable”.
Business executives have warned that the the impact on Scots businesses and jobs of the cost of living crisis will be “worse than Covid”, says The herald. The paper says many firms have gone bust as inflation jumped to a fresh 40-year high of 10.1% in July.
The Metro reports struggling families now face price rises as high as 18%. The paper says the figure from the Office for National Statistics was the highest since February 1982, when it hit 10.4%.
The Times Scotland writes that according to a think tank, plans by Liz Truss to cut tax are “hard to square” with economic reality because inflation will push up welfare and debt interest payments by tens of billions of pounds. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said permanent tax cuts were not plausible when inflation was at record levels and set to exceed 13% this year.
The Daily Star of Scotland accuses Foreign Secretary Liz Truss of hypocrisy following a recording of her, revealed by the Guardian, in which she said British workers needed “more graft”. The Star says the Tory party leadership contender “remains tight-lipped” about the 13 weeks of holiday our MPs are entitled to. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also on holiday, it notes.
Thousands of ScotRail staff are to be balloted for industrial action after its biggest union rejected an improved pay offer, reports The Scotsman. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), whose members include train conductors and ticket examiners, is expected to complete the vote by around mid-September, with any walkouts possible from the end of the month if a majority for action is secured.
The First Minister has said councils should make a “decent” pay rise offer to try and avert the forthcoming strikes in numerous local authorities, reports The National.
The Daily Telegraph reports that police have been urged to track down nationalists who spat on and threw eggs at Tory members at the party’s leadership hustings. It writes that Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of fuelling the scenes by “whipping up hatred” and anti-English racism.
The Scottish Daily Mail leads on the stabbing of 87-year-old grandfather Thomas O’Halloran in Ealing, London, on Tuesday. The paper says the grandfather had been busking with his accordion to raise money for Ukraine.
The Scottish Sun says Darius Campbell Danesh was visited by his Hollywood star friend Gerard Butler in the days before his death. The paper says the two Scots had become close friends in recent months and Mr Butler, 52, was seen at the apartment block opposite a private clinic where Mr Danesh was found “unresponsive” on 11 August.
The ex-wife of Darius Campbell-Danesh has shared a heartfelt tribute to the singer following his death, reports the Daily Record. The paper says Natasha Henstridge, 48, who married the musician in 2011 before their divorce in 2018, posted several photos of the pair.
A mum taking her two young children to school intervened in an alleged convenience store robbery, according to the Press and Journal. The paper says a trial at Inverness Sheriff Court was shown CCTV footage of Michelle Fraser, 32, rugby-tackling a man said to be wielding a screwdriver, to the floor. Jason Ryan, 49, is said to have lunged at a shop assistant when she refused to serve him alcohol.
The Courier reports that Nicola Sturgeon has labelled independence campaigners’ abuse of a journalist as “disgraceful”. Protesters yelled at James Cook, BBC News Scotland Editor, outside the Conservative hustings in Perth on Tuesday with calls of “traitor”, “scumbag rat” and “liar”.
The Glasgow Times leads with news that a prison custody officer who was injured after reportedly helping a police officer tackle a violent prisoner was left unable to work for more than a year. Gerard Murphy was working for G4S helping transport inmates from Cathcart Police Station in Aikenhead Road to Glasgow Sheriff Court.
Edinburgh council have urged people to store rubbish at home as bin workers begin 12 days of strike action on Thursday. The walkout, which follows rejection of a 3.5% pay offer, begins at 05:59 and is due to continue until 05:00 on Tuesday 30 August.
The boss of Marini’s takeaway in Dundee has described the moment a “big-nosed” intruder broke into his business, says the Evening Telegraph. CCTV footage shows the man forcing his way into Marini’s.
A man posted a lit cigarette through his neighbour’s letterbox then brandished a metal pole in her garden while shouting offensive words, reports the Evening Express. The paper says Simon Watt was arrested at Ashgrove Gardens.
