Newspaper headlines: ‘Sara was failed’ and 10,000 civil service jobs ‘to be axed’

A photo of Sara Sharif, whose father and stepmother were convicted of her murder on Wednesday, appears on many of the front pages.

The Daily Mirror, external says that her “smile hid a life of torture”, while the Daily Mail says she was “let down by everyone supposed to protect her”.

The Times, external says Sara was “plunged into a life of misery and violence” from the moment she was born. It details 15 occasions on which opportunities to intervene were missed by social workers, the police and the family courts.

The Metro, external notes Sara’s father’s impassive reaction as the guilty verdicts were read out in court, with the headline reading: “Not even a tear for Sara.” The i says, external the government is considering a ban on smacking and a register of home-schooled children in order to improve safeguarding, while the Daily Express, external calls for an inquiry to look at what is going wrong with child protection in the UK.

The Daily Telegraph, external accuses Housing Secretary Angela Rayner of seeking to “bulldoze” the Home Counties, as she prepares to unveil what it calls “the biggest overhaul of planning rules in a generation”. The paper says the move is unlikely to make housing more affordable unless immigration is brought down. Writing about the plans in the Sun, external, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says he wants to take on the “blockers, the nimbys and the naysayers to build the houses and communities we desperately need”,

The Guardian, external reports that ministers are planning to cut more than 10,000 civil service jobs as departments try to meet spending limits set by the government. Sources have told the paper that there is an acceptance that the headcount – which significantly expanded in recent years because of Brexit and the pandemic – has made government unwieldy. A Whitehall source is quoted saying: “The civil service has grown because the Tories threw money at it and asked it to do more things while criticising it at the same time. You cannot blame the civil service for this. It’s about political direction and that’s what’s been lacking.”