What the papers say – March 25

The national papers on Thursday cover trade tensions with the EU over Covid jabs and pub customers potentially needing to provide proof of vaccination.

The i reports London and Brussels are in late talks to avoid a vaccine blockade.

Metro , however, says a defiant Boris Johnson has hit back at the EU by warning them international businesses could stop investing there if the bloc creates “arbitrary blockades” for the UK.

Mr Johnson has urged Brussels to be “sensible”, according to the Daily Express, while the Prime Minister warns on the front of The Independent that the bloc will experience “considerable” damage if enacts its threatened ban.

The Financial Times says the two sides have tried to calm their row after “trading barbs”, with the Daily Mirror also focusing on the chance of peace as it reports an “agreement is in sight”.

The Prime Minister’s suggestion pub landlords could be allowed to require customers to provide proof they are vaccinated against coronavirus leads the Daily Mail, The Sun and The Times.

But the idea prompted a backlash from lockdown-sceptic Conservative MPs, who called it a “dangerous path” that would lead to a “two-tier” system across the UK, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The Guardian, meanwhile, reports its own analysis has shown exclusion rates are six times higher for black Caribbean students in English schools than their white peers in some local authorities.

And the Daily Star covers “climax change”, saying pollution “also makes men’s todgers tiny”.