The Scotsman leads with the news that the number of SNP members has fallen by more than 30,000 in just over a year. The party has been facing increasing calls to reveal its membership numbers during the campaign to replace Nicola Sturgeon as leader.
The National leads with the same story, and carries claims from SNP president Mike Russell that a row over the leadership ballot was a bid to “discredit the SNP”.
The Scottish Daily Mail claims the SNP has descended into “open warfare” after being forced to reveal its membership had “collapsed by more than 50,000”. It says the next first minister will be decided by 72,186 people who have paid to join the party.
The Times reports that Nicola Sturgeon denies the SNP is in crisis but quotes her saying “growing pains for any organisation can be painful”. The paper says the party membership has dropped substantially since its peak of 125,000 in 2019.
In the Daily Record, Labour leader Keir Starmer says the SNP are “lurching to the right”. He told the paper that progressive voters should return to Labour following recent rows between the SNP leadership candidates around gay marriage and abortion rights.
The i also focuses on the slumping SNP membership, with both Ash Regan and Kate Forbes branding the drop “alarming”. The paper says Nicola Sturgeon’s replacement will be decided by 1.5% of voting-age people in Scotland.
The SNP membership story also leads the Metro. Ash Regan blamed the gender recognition reforms and Kate Forbes said the numbers show that “continuity won’t cut it”.
The Scottish Daily Express leads with Humza Yousaf asking a group of Ukrainian women in Edinburgh: “Where are all the men?” Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60 are currently prohibited from leaving the country due to the war effort.
Mr Yousaf’s question also makes the front page of the Scottish Sun. Afterwards he told the BBC that a number of men were elsewhere in the building and that the woman he spoke to did not seem to take offence.
The Daily Telegraph leads with Labour’s plans to reverse the Chancellor’s decision to scrap the cap on the amount people are allowed to put into their pensions without being taxed.
The Press and Journal reports that a seven-year-old Ukrainian refugee was forced to return to her war-torn country to see a dentist because waiting times in Aberdeenshire were too long. It says the child was “in agony” but would have had to wait four months for treatment.
The Herald leads with the latest in the Ferguson shipyard saga, reporting that more than £25m in emergency funding has been ploughed into the nationalised shipyard in Inverclyde this financial year. It comes after Holyrood was told of further delays to the delivery of two ferries being built at the yard.
The Glasgow Times reports that nine housing associations have increased their rent by 7%. The Scottish Tenants Organisation called the move “shameful” and said that it could make people homeless.
The Edinburgh Evening News says school children and residents who have faced disruption from Edinburgh’s tram extension project could be invited to ride the trams on the new route ahead of the official start of passenger services.
Plans to turn an old Stonehaven fishing shack into a seafood hut have been rejected amid concerns that children “could run out into traffic after being spooked by lobsters”, according to the Evening Express.
And the Daily Star says younger people are taking more naps than older people.
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