The Papers: Better times ahead, says PM, and tributes to Pope

The Sunday Times says Labour’s lead in the opinion polls is at risk from wavering voters who could switch to the Conservatives before the next election.

It says research suggests that in some areas which appear to be swinging to Labour, almost a third of people are undecided.

According to the paper, modelling suggests they will return to the Tories in the privacy of the polling booth.

Meanwhile, the Independent website quotes campaigners warning that hundreds of thousands of dementia sufferers risk missing “life-changing” treatment after diagnosis rates plummeted during the pandemic.

It says there is a postcode lottery – with those in the South West faring worst.

The Sunday Mirror reports that Lady Susan Hussey – who resigned after asking a black British charity boss where she was really from – will be invited to the King’s coronation.

It says that after apologising to Ngozi Fulani, the late queen’s confidante is “back in the fold”.

Problems facing the NHS also attract front page coverage.

The Sunday Times reports that a patient had to wait 99 hours for a bed.

And a doctor tells the Sunday People that patients are dying before they even get a bed.

Meanwhile, the Mail on Sunday focuses on what it calls a “stealth tax” on energy bills.

It reports that the standing charge paid by customers has risen by an average of nearly 50% over the last year – to pay for the bailout of dozens of electricity and gas suppliers.

In an editorial, the paper slams the increase as a “pernicious abuse of power” – saying families have been failed by “ministers, flashy but flawed start-up firms and an easy-touch regulator”.

The regulator Ofgem tells the Mail it considered alternatives to the standing charge change, but the numbers “didn’t stack up”.

The prime minister has written a new year’s message in the Sunday Express in which he promises “better times ahead” after a year of upheaval.

But the Observer, in its editorial, has a gloomier outlook – fearing that 2023 will be even harder than last year for many.

It points to a “dysfunctional” housing system, sluggish economic growth and a “complete failure” to grapple with the consequences of an ageing population.

The Sunday Telegraph has conducted an investigation into the punishments meted out to errant police officers, saying some who have preyed on women and posted homemade pornography on social media are among hundreds allowed to keep their jobs in recent years.

It says most received “little more than a slap on the wrist” when their behaviour came to light.

The Sunday Telegraph says the French energy company EDF is warning that two of the nuclear power plants it operates in the UK might close in 2024, as a result of the chancellor’s windfall tax.

The paper says the sites’ closure could remove the spare capacity used by the National Grid to avoid blackouts.

A Treasury spokesman said the tax was a temporary measure, in response to some electricity generators getting “extraordinary returns” from higher prices.

And finally, the Daily Star’s headline reads: “It’s the thirst of January”.

The paper is calling on people to sign a pledge to give Dry January the elbow – and do their bit for Britain’s struggling pubs.