The Papers: Benefits 'backtrack' and smacking 'could be criminal'

No one story dominates Sunday's newspapers. The Sunday Times reports that Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, is "expected to back down on plans to freeze some disability benefits next year" after a backlash from Labour MPs. According to reports, plans had been in the works to cancel an inflation linked rise to the personal independence payment in spring 2026. The paper also has a large image of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who met injured rugby players ahead of the Six Nations clash between England and Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.

Like many of Sunday's papers, the Sunday Express carries a picture of Princess Catherine on its front page. Its lead focuses on efforts to bring the law on smacking children in England in line with Scotland and Wales, where it is already banned. The paper says the move "has been driven by recent horrific cases of child abuse by parents".

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is preparing to "axe more health quangos", the Sunday Telegraph reports. "The abolition of NHS England... is the beginning, not the end," Mr Streeting writes in the paper, adding his team have a focus on "slashing bloated bureaucracy". Efforts for a post-war peacekeeping mission in Ukraine also make the front of the paper.

The Mail on Sunday reports that "a former spy chief submitted a secret dossier to No 10 early in the pandemic reporting that the virus had originated with a leak from a Wuhan facility".

Eastenders actress Jacqueline Jossa has broken up with her husband of eight years Dan Osborne, according to the lead story in the Sun on Sunday.

The Sunday Mirror reports that Lindsay Sandiford, a 67-year-old drug trafficker from Teeside who has been in prison in Indonesia since being caught attempting to smuggle cocaine into the country in 2012, could be set to have her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment under a new political regime in the country - with speculation it is possible she will be freed.

"Let the guns fall silent", reads the headline in the Sunday People, reporting on the outcome of Saturday's virtual meeting between world leaders aimed at securing peace in Ukraine.

And finally, the Daily Star reports that "boffins reckon taking a hot bath or shower can burn off as many calories as an exercise session".