What the papers say - December 17

Politics is back at the top of the news agenda this weekend, with Theresa May featuring on the front of several Sunday papers.

The Prime Minister writes in both the Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Express to deliver a defiant message over Brexit.

She tells the Telegraph that "amid all the noise we are getting on with the job", and vows: "We will not be derailed from this fundamental duty to deliver the democratic will of the British people."

Her message is also carried in the Express, as she pledges to "take back control of our borders, money and laws", while seizing the opportunity to build a nation "fit for the future".

However, according to the Observer, Tory peers have warned Mrs May she will face a string of parliamentary defeats unless she rejects those within her own party with "extreme views" on Brexit.

Former pensions minister Ros Altmann and Patience Wheatcroft, a former editor of the Sunday Telegraph, are "appalled" at the insults heaped by hardline Brexiteers on MPs who voted with their consciences during a vote on key Brexit legislation last week, the paper says.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson tells the Sunday Times that Britain must secure a strong trade deal with the European Union after Brexit and cannot become a "vassal state" of the bloc.

The Mail on Sunday reports on a series of incidents in which MPs received death threats and abuse, alleging that the pregnant wife of one MP was targeted by online trolls.

Elsewhere, the Sunday People features a striking image of Holby City star Joe McFadden, who was named champion of the latest series of Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday night.