What the papers say – September 10

The Government’s desperate push for better coronavirus testing and the pandemic’s likely impact on Christmas dominate the nation’s papers on Thursday.

The Guardian splashes with leaked Government documents it says show Boris Johnson is desperate for a mass testing programme as the only way to avoid a second national lockdown before a vaccine is found.

Metro has a similar story, calling the Prime Minister’s bold testing plans a “£100 billion covid test moonshot”.

The Independent says Christmas is under threat.

But the Daily Express says “Christmas can still be saved” through daily tests.

Christmas fears are echoed in the Daily Mail, The Times and The Daily Telegraph.

And the Daily Mirror treads a similar path, with a threat from the Prime Minister for people to stick to new rules of else Christmas “is off”.

The i avoids the Christmas topic but says the new crackdown on the size of group gathering is set to last for six months.

And the Daily Star calls Health Minister Matt Hancock a clown, due to what it says is a coronavirus testing “fiasco”.

The only non-Covid lead comes from the Financial Times, where Mr Johnson stands accused of reaching a new Brexit “nadir” over his plans to backtrack on the withdrawal agreement.

Advertisement