The story of schools plagued by dangerous concrete is ubiquitous across Saturday’s newspapers. “More schools are expected to close next week,” the Times reports. The paper says some parents in Leicester arrived at the school gates this week after the summer break, only to be told the Department of Education had ordered the building closed overnight. The paper also has an image of BBC presenter Clive Myrie on the front page, previewing an interview in the paper’s magazine
The i leads with an exclusive on the school’s issue, reporting ministers were warned about the problem in 2019. It says Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is due to address Parliament next week and give details on how much the government knew.
Under the headline “Hundreds More Schools at Risk”, the Daily Mail reports ministers believe the “concrete crisis” could grow. “Thousands of public buildings could be hit,” it says, noting that hospitals, council houses, courts, police stations, and leisure centres could all be at risk.
“What a mess,” proclaims the front of the Daily Mirror. The paper takes aim at the government, with its editorial saying it “epitomises the dire state of the country after 13 years of Tory misrule”. The paper also reports on news of the death of controversial businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, who has died at the age of 94.
With a late update, the Sun leads on the death of Mohamed Al Fayed, who has died at the age of 94. It also has a transfer deadline story about a mega money move for Liverpool star Mo Salah for a potential £200m by Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad. The paper reports Salah has been offered £2.3m a week to make the move, and includes comments from Jurgen Klopp questioning British clubs’ abilities to stop the deals going through.
A different story leads the Daily Telegraph, with the paper reporting a line from the home secretary that “woke police” are “damaging public trust”. Suella Braverman makes the comments in an interview with the paper. It also carries a picture on its front page of Mohamed Al Fayed – noting his death comes almost 26 years to the day since his son Dodi died alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash.
The Financial Times reports that “official statistics have added almost 2 per cent to the size of the UK economy”, something which has come as a surprise and shows the economy recovering “much faster from the pandemic than previously reported”.
