Newspaper headlines: 'Tax rises needed to plug £35bn gap' and 'Putin breaks Trump's 'ceasefire"

Several newspapers report that the Institute for Fiscal Studies sees a £35bn shortfall in UK finances before the chancellor’s Budget. The i says tax increases may be required, while the Treasury declined to comment on Budget speculation.

The Times says filling the gap through tax changes could mean adding three percentage points to every tax band. The Guardian reports that heat-pump support may be reduced to help pay for defence plans. The papers describe the figures as a warning, not a confirmed Budget decision.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Russia struck a Ukrainian power plant hours after Donald Trump said he had secured a pause in attacks on energy sites. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said the reported agreement was news to him, according to The Guardian and The Times.

Other front-page stories include a Financial Times report that Washington has urged Kyiv and European governments to stop Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries, with arms restrictions among the measures threatened. The paper also says oil executives withdrew from a Riyadh energy conference after attacks on the city’s airport.

The papers also cover a fatal tiger incident at a Yorkshire wildlife park, a BBC decision to edit a slogan from a performer’s T-shirt, and the Independent’s 40th anniversary. The Budget and the possible scale of tax changes remain uncertain pending the chancellor’s announcement.