What the papers say – June 19

Cost-of-living crisis developments, by-election fears and World Cup rules feature on Sunday’s papers.

The Observer reports “a wave of 1970s-style of economic discontent” threatens to spread from the rail sector to public services as teachers and NHS workers flag industrial action over pay.

The Business Secretary has accused the country’s biggest trade unions of “bribing” workers to strike, according to The Sunday Telegraph, while The Mail on Sunday claims a leak reveals Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer “secretly backs union barons”.

Boris Johnson, meanwhile, warns in The Sunday Times that “we need to steel ourselves for a long war” in Ukraine following his return from Kyiv.

Unnamed Tory MPs have told The Independent the Prime Minister risks a “loss of authority” if the party suffers a double by-election defeat this week.

Attorney General Suella Braverman has vowed to complete Brexit, with the Sunday Express quoting her as saying it must be the British people – and not European judges – who “decide who can and cannot stay in our country”.

“I’m finally free to be me”, says Dame Kelly Holmes after the Olympic champion came out as gay on the Sunday Mirror.

Sunday People reports the mother of two-year-old James Bulger, who was abducted and murdered in Liverpool by 10-year-olds Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, has won her campaign to have a Commons debate on the handling of the 1993 case.

And “He shoots, he scores, he’s jailed”, reads the headline of Daily Star Sunday, with Qatar not relaxing “strict” laws for British supporters at the upcoming World Cup.