Nearly every UK newspaper’s front page centres on the horrific murder of Labour MP Jo Cox, who was shot and stabbed in Birstall yesterday.
The Guardian ran with the headline, “She believed in a better world and she fought for it every day”, a quote from Brendan Cox following the tragic death of his wife, with many others also making reference to Mr Cox’s “moving tribute.”
Several newspapers – including the Metro, The Times and The Guardian – also report that the attacker shouted “Britain First” during his street attack yesterday.
On the topic of Brexit, the Daily Mail reports that the Former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has accused the Governor of the Bank of England of “peddling phoney forecasts.”
Johnson – an advocate of the Vote Leave campaign – says in the Mail that Mark Carney is “talking Britain down”, following another report warning of the risks of leaving the EU.
Johnson calls the Remain campaign “project fear”, and is quoted by the paper as saying that it hasn’t had much of impact because “everyone can remember what the PM said only a few months ago when he said Britain would do well outside the EU.”
City AM writes that MPs are calling for the National Grid PLC (LON:NG.) to be split up to make way for an “American-style system with an independent system operator (ISO)”.
The paper quotes a report from the cross-party energy and climate change committee, which reads: “The government should set out its intentions regarding an ISO as soon as possible, and consult on a detailed, staged plan for their implementation, so as to avoid injecting uncertainty into the energy sector.”
The Financial Times also picks up on this story and quotes committee chairman, Angus Brendan MacNeil, as saying: “National Grid’s technical expertise in operating the national energy system must be weighed against its potential conflicts of interest.”
The broadsheet says the company refuted those claims, and takes “very seriously the need to provide confidence that any potential conflicts of interest are handled correctly.”
Elsewhere in the FT, Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) has sold off the Dobbies chain of garden centres for £217mln in cash. The retail giant – which has been slimming down recently to try and revive it fortunes – bought the chain in 2007 for £155.6mln.
Dave Lewis. Tesco chief executive, is quotes in the paper as saying: “We believe this agreement will give Dobbies a bright future, while allowing our UK retail business to focus on its core strengths.”