The Papers: Healey's 'tax raid on banks' and Brand 'topless monster'

A number of Friday's papers focus on reports that Chancellor John Healey plans to tax Britain's banks in his upcoming budget. Healey is "poised to launch a tax raid on banks" despite describing them as part of "the crown jewels" of the UK economy, according to the Daily Telegraph. Ahead of the Budget on 28 October, the chancellor is said to be "considering raising a surcharge on bank profits", the paper says.

Similarly, the Guardian reports Healey could "tap the financial sector for additional revenue" to "help offset the damage inflicted on the public finances by war in the Middle East". One option is to tax banks more heavily, which think tanks and trade unions have been calling for, the paper says. It has been reported the biggest four banks collectively made about £15bn profit in the first six months of this year.

The i Paper focuses on household impacts from the chancellor's proposed Budget under the headline "energy bills set for double rise in new year". The paper says "Healey refuses to commit to extending PM's cost of living measure".

An alleged victim told court the comedian and actor Russel Brand became "monster-like" and asked her to take a picture of him before he allegedly raped her, the Daily Mirror reports. Brand faces seven charges - three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one of indecent assault. He denies the charges.

Similarly, the Sun headlines on the photo shown at the Brand rape trial where he is seen blowing a kiss to the woman he allegedly raped.

The Metro splashes on Harry and Meghan's "(not) royal walkabout" with a picture of Meghan "beaming in burgundy" as the couple walked through Nottingham. It was Meghan's first public outing since returning to the UK, the paper says. Elsewhere, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Donald Trump of "betrayal" after the US leader agreed to a diesel deal with Russia.

"I will not" step down, Germany's Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Financial Times amid growing pressure for him to resign. Merz has "vowed to fight on" as he pushes through unpopular welfare reform, the paper reports, as well as confront an age of upheaval.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage's "fury" about the case of a failed asylum seeker who was jailed after an attempted rape is the headline of the Daily Express.

The UK government is planning to extend the public broadcaster's licence fee to online platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon to help the "struggling BBC", the Independent reports. Any new revenue will be "used to boost journalism and tackle misinformation", the paper says.

Under a new NHS England (NHSE) guideline, transgender people should be treated on single-sex hospital wards that align with their biological sex rather than their gender identity, the Times reports. The move is a reversal of its previous policy that trans patients "be placed on wards in line with their gender identity", the paper says.

And the Labour government has been criticised for its plans to improve students' "speaking skills", the Daily Mail reports. When Education Secretary Lucy Powell announced measures to improve speaking to be as important as reading and writing, she was told "children will be losers" by Conservative shadow minister for work and pensions Baroness Spielman, the paper says.