‘May’s cry for help to Corbyn’

Theresa May’s speech on Tuesday reaching out to opposition parties makes the lead for several of the papers – with headlines such as “May’s cry for help to Corbyn” in the Daily Telegraph, “Weakened May pleads for support from rivals” in the Times and “May appeals to Labour for policy ideas” in the Guardian.

For the Guardian, the speech will be seen as an attempt to relaunch her faltering premiership.

The Financial Times describes it as an attempt to shore up her premiership against mutinous MPs as she prepares to publish the most significant piece of Brexit legislation – the Repeal Bill – on Thursday.

Manoeuvring among ambitious backbenchers and pro-EU MPs is intensifying ahead of the bill, it adds.

It will put the Brexit talks on hold and make us a laughing stock in Brussels, the paper adds.

For the Daily Mirror however, talk of plots means the prime minister’s mind is on personal survival rather than Britain’s future prosperity. It thinks she should resign and call another election.

The Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror and the Sun lead on Monday’s fresh High Court hearing on the case of the terminally-ill baby, Charlie Gard.

Today, it adds, his parents will beg the court to be able to seek treatment for his rare genetic condition, which has left him on life support.

It has the headline: “Charlie’s day of destiny”.

Reports and pictures of Iraqi forces and civilians celebrating on the streets of Mosul following the Iraqi government’s announcement that the city had been liberated from the Islamic State group are on several front pages.

But its residents have paid a steep price, with thousands killed or wounded in the battle.

The Financial Times warns that the advances on IS-held territory in Iraq and Syria will deal a heavy blow, but not eliminate the group.

It says its militants can melt into the desert and will probably keep up insurgent attacks and suicide bombings.

Other extremists, it adds, will head for Libya or Sinai, presenting a menace to the world for years to come.

The Sun welcomes the proposal to keep zero hours contracts – one of the expected recommendations of the government’s review of employment practices.

It accepts that some workers are exploited, but says most like the flexibility they offer.

Banning them – it argues – would harm small businesses who can’t afford full-time staff.

The review strikes a decent balance by enhancing workers’ rights without damaging business, it adds.

The Times reports that ministers have rejected calls to lower interest rates on student loans.

It quotes a government source as saying that interest charged on loans is below equivalent market rates and those of payday lenders, and they offer protection to borrowers that critics overlook.

The paper says First Secretary of State Damian Green appeared to support a review of tuition fees last month.

But the source tells the paper he was trying to highlight that Labour’s policy of abolishing fees would mean the reintroduction of student number controls, reversing progress in social mobility and a dramatic underfunding of universities.

The Daily Mail has the results of a study of what it calls “motherhood in 2017”, showing how the pressures of parenting and holding down a career have meant that many traditional tasks have fallen by the wayside.

According to the research, 23% of women said they did not have time to cook an evening meal from scratch and one in five was unable to find time to make a child’s birthday cake.

Among the 1,000 mothers polled, 17% were unable to take a role in their child’s Parent Teacher Association and a third said chores such as ironing bed linen were too much for them.

But – the paper adds – the vast majority made sure they never missed important events in their children’s lives such as attending a school play, parents’ evening or sports day.

Finally, depending which paper you read, play at Wimbledon will be “magic Monday” for the Mail; “mega Monday” for the i and “middle Monday” for the Telegraph.

The i says that if Andy Murray and Johanna Konta win their matches they will be through to the quarter-finals – and that would be the first time a British man and woman have made the last-eight together since 1973.