“Palestine Action ban ruled unlawful in blow to ministers” leads the Guardian, after the High Court ruled on Friday that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation was unlawful. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will appeal the decision, which the paper says will leave the fates of the 2,500 people who have been arrested for their support of the group uncertain.
The Mail has focused on Lord Mandelson, and claims he took “ghost flights” on a Russian oligarch’s private jet to a summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, while serving as EU trade commissioner. The paper also features a photo of British skeleton racer Matt Weston, who won a gold medal in the Winter Olympics in Italy on Friday night.
Weston is also front and centre of the Times, which highlights the fact that it is Team GB’s first medal of the games. But the paper leads on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s upcoming speech at the annual Munich Security Conference. It says he will use the moment to launch his “strongest attack to date” on Reform UK and the Green Party, declaring both “ideological extremists who would undermine Britain’s national security”. Reform says the comments come from a “prime minister on the verge of being hounded out of office”, while the Greens said he is a “caretaker prime minister running scared”.
The electoral commission has said that ministers do not have sufficient reasons to delay local elections, according to the Telegraph. Vijay Rangarajan, the chief executive of the watchdog, told the paper that ministers had created a “conflict of interest” by allowing councillors to decide whether ballots should be postponed. The government is in the midst of a major overhaul of local government structures, and has previously said the “vast majority” of elections would still be going ahead.
