Newspaper headlines: 'Camping weekend tragedy' and business tax cuts
BBC News - Staff
·3-min read
Wednesday's front pages are dominated by photographs of the four teenagers who are believed to have died after going missing during a camping weekend in Snowdonia. Jevon Hirst, Harvey Owen, Wilf Henderson and Hugo Morris, aged between 16 and 18, have been missing since Sunday. Police searching for the friends said four bodies were found in an overturned car that appeared to have left the road near the village of Tremadog in north Wales. Police have not formally revealed the identity of the bodies. Metro's front page includes a photo of the search site, with the paper describing the episode as a "tragedy".
The Daily Mail says they were "four pals who went camping and never came home". The paper says the sixth form students "may have lain undiscovered in the upturned car for 48 hours".
The Daily Express has some of the tributes paid to the boys on its front page, including from Wilf Henderson's girlfriend Maddi who, the paper says, posted online: "I love you so much, I'm going to miss you forever."
A composite photo of the four friends dominates the Sun's front page. "So Young" is the paper's headline.
"So Tragic" is the Daily Mirror's equally succinct front page headline summing up events in north Wales.
Tax cuts is the other big news story on several of Wednesday's front pages. The Daily Telegraph says businesses will get their biggest tax cut in 50 years when Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announces the Autumn Statement in Parliament on Wednesday. The paper says Mr Hunt will say the Conservatives will "reject big government, high spending and high tax because we know that leads to less growth, not more".
Among the tax reforms expected to be announced by the chancellor are cuts to national insurance, which the i newspaper says are most likely. But, the paper says, interest rates are still expected to remain high until the end of next year. The paper's front page also reports Israel and Hamas are on the brink of a deal to release 50 women and children being held hostage in Gaza, and a four-day pause in fighting.
Those two stories are also carried on the front page of the Times. In its main story, on the government's new tax measures, the paper says 28 million people will benefit from lower national insurance rates.
The Guardian says Mr Hunt's tax cuts are him bowing to pressure from within the Conservative Party in an effort to close the gap with Labour in the run-up to the next general election - widely expected to be held next year.
The Financial Times also leads with the Autumn Statement, writing in its headline that a £9bn-a-year tax break for business is at the core of Mr Hunt's growth drive.
And the Daily Star opts for a characteristically lighter, left field story on its front page. The paper reports that Glen Matlock, bass guitarist in the original line-up of the Sex Pistols, has confessed he and other members of the punk rock band were big fans of Sir Cliff Richard. The paper reported earlier this week that Sir Cliff had not been a fan of punk himself.
