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Newspaper headlines: 'Budget tax reprieve for pensioners' and 'Meghan dad net to widen'

Stories about the Budget and the investigation into the father of the Duchess of Sussex feature on Monday's front pages.

· 353 words· updated October 26, 2026 at 01:32 AM

The Times reports that the tax free allowance will be increased for low-income pensioners in Wednesday's Budget. It says the chancellor has also decided not to to reduce the tax-free pension lump sum - and quotes the former minister Steve Webb as saying this looks like a "decidedly pensioner-friendly" Budget. The i paper says John Healey will announce long-term borrowing to fund defence on Wednesday, but defer the commitment to increase the expenditure to 3% of GDP to next year's spending review.

"This budget is Andy Burnham's first real test" writes Sharon Graham, the union Unite's general secretary, in the Daily Mirror. She says "hope will soon evaporate unless there is real change that workers and communities feel".

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph says John Healey is at odds with the energy secretary over drilling at the Rosebank North Sea oil field. According to the paper, Healey wants the plans to go ahead, but Miatta Fahnbulleh is opposed. The paper says she is minded to object to the plan because most of the oil would have to be exported, making it less effective at addressing UK energy security.

The Guardian says it has spoken to the interior minister of the Philippines and that he says the signs are that Thomas Markle could be a "possible sex offender of the grossest kind". The minister adds that an investigation into the Duchess of Sussex's father will provide a "definitive picture". Thomas Markle has denied all the allegations against him. The Daily Mail splashes with the interview on its front page and the Sun reports it too, as well as new details from the letter sent to the Met Police in 2019 making allegations against Markle.

The British Library is "turning the page" on some of its reading rooms, according to the Times. It says the rooms are "the rarest of things in London, a sanctuary of silence" - but that three which are dedicated to science are closing permanently, and being turned into "flexible workspaces". The library's chief executive says many studies are now available online, but one professor calls it "a sad day for science".

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Monday, October 26, 2026

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