What Saturday's papers are saying

With renewed rumours of an early general election,many of the papers return to political themes on their front pages.

According to the Telegraph,the Conservatives are planning tax cuts,George Osborne will unveil an emergency “enterprise” budget within 50 days of a Conservative election victory which will sharply cut taxes for business,says the paper

The Guardian claims that the Tories are planning for a hung parliament.Ahead of their spring conference says the paper

David Cameron has established a special unit to prepare for a hung parliament, amid growing fears among senior Tories that they will struggle to win an overall Commons majority.

The Independent meanwhile looks at the activities of lord Ashcroft claiming The Tories have spent £6m over two years in the parliamentary seats that hold the key to election victory.

According to the Times,Alistair Darling is set to reveal details of how he plans to cut £11 billion from Whitehall spending in the pre-election Budget including

Some hospital buildings face closure as the government seeks to save billions of pounds from more efficient services,

It leads with its exclusive yesterday though reporting that unions at the BBC are threatening industrial action over 600 possible job cuts as two radio stations and half the corporation’s website may go.

The Guardian claims that the

decision to dramatically cut the BBC's scope and expenditure follows increasing pressure from the Conservatives, who have threatened major cutbacks if they come to power at the general election, and rival media organisations struggling to compete with the corporation's activities.

The High court ruling on the Binyam Mohamed case continues to attract headlines.As the Independent reports it has emerged that a senior judge had suggested MI5 officers could not be trusted to tell the truth.

The Telegraph reports on the comments of the head of the Army, General Sir David Richards who says British forces could be pulled out of Afghanistan within five years,

Sir David said they have reached a “turning point” in the battle against the Taliban.

But there were more problems in Afghnanistan yesterday as when 17 people died in a car bomb attack in Kabul apparently aimed at Indians working in the Afghan capital.

The Mail turns its atention to the postal service reporting that First class post has plunged to its worst performance in more than a decade.

Nearly one in four letters sent by first class post did not arrive the next working day.

The Express meanwhile leads with news that staff at the Met Office have been awarded £12million in bonuses despite repeatedly getting forecasts wrong,

A big sporting showdown at Stamford Bridge today as the Sun reports that Wayne Bridge last night vowed to snub John Terry's handshake before this lunchtime's big match.


The seven-hour verdict that cost Thaksin $1.4bn is the headline in the Independent as it reports that

The Thai authorities were last night braced for demonstrations after the country's highest court seized $1.4bn of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's assets and ruled that the exiled tycoon had abused his power in office.

Finally the Telegraph reports that whilst Charles de Gaulle famously bemoaned the difficulties involved in running a country with 246 different types of cheese the French are failing out of favour with the industry.So in an effort to fight back

The Association Fromages de Terroirs (AFT), which aims to protect France’s traditional cheese culture, is now trying to fight back with a series of posters of “Fromgirls”, displaying scantily clad women working in the industry.