What the papers say – May 16

Monday’s front pages are dominated by emergency talks between Boris Johnson and Northern Ireland’s political leaders in a bid to break a Stormont deadlock caused by post-Brexit trading arrangements.

The Independent, the Daily Express, the i and The Daily Telegraph all lead with the deepening row over the protocol as the PM tries to negotiate with the EU. The latter adds that Mr Johnson has warned that the Northern Ireland Protocol is holding Westminster back from helping with the cost-of-living crisis as he prepares to approve a law scrapping key parts of the agreement.

Elsewhere, the Daily Mail and The Sun splash with a beaming Queen as she attends the first of her national Platinum Jubilee events.

The Times carries an interview with the new chief inspector of constabulary, with him telling the paper that police forces “are ‘not the thought police’ and must focus on driving down crime given that charge rates are at their lowest in more than 30 years”.

The Guardian, meanwhile, reports that police leaders have accused Priti Patel of a “power grab” that would allow the home secretary to intervene in local law enforcement matters and silence chiefs who want to speak out on issues deemed politically sensitive.

“Ukraine’s defiant promise: Kyiv will host Eurovision,” Metro writes, after the besieged country won the international song competition over the weekend.

The Financial Times splashes with the “new era” signalled by Finland and Sweden joining Nato in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Daily Mirror covers the racially-motivated mass shooting which happened over the weekend in Buffalo in the US which saw an 18-year-old white man kill 10 people at a supermarket.

And the Daily Star reports Britain is about to be “blitzed by thunderstorms” and a second heatwave.