Sunday papers: Markle police letter row, Budget carbon levy and defence funding lead front pages

Several of Sunday's front pages are looking ahead to Wednesday's Budget, and they do not all see the same thing. The Sunday Telegraph reports that the chancellor is weighing a carbon charge on imported fuel. The paper calls it a "green tax" and claims it could push up prices at the pumps. The Sunday Times, for its part, says the Budget will bring billions of pounds in new defence funding, along with money for two government investment funds that would put it into UK defence firms.

The Sunday Mirror leads on housing. It reports that £1bn is to be committed to council and affordable homes, which it equates to building 10,000 homes. It adds that the government plans to help more councils borrow to build by extending preferential rates. In its editorial, the paper argues that Britain will be a happier place when everyone has a secure roof over their heads.

The Sunday Express focuses on the state pension age. It carries a call for the government to say whether it intends to bring forward the planned rise to 68. The paper reports concern that the change could be implemented in 2037 rather than in the mid-2040s, as originally planned.

In an interview with the Observer, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates describes the arrival of artificial intelligence as an "evolutionary event". He says people will no longer be the most intelligent things on the planet, and that governments will need new sources of income to support those put out of work. Gates also says billionaires should pay more tax, and claims he would have paid more than double what he has paid so far in his life.

The most sensitive story is in the Sun on Sunday and the Mail on Sunday. The Sun on Sunday has spoken to a friend of the Duchess of Sussex, who says she is "concerned" that the Met police did not act on a letter accusing her estranged father, Thomas Markle, of child sexual abuse. The friend says the force had the opportunity to pass it on to other relevant law enforcement authorities but chose not to. In the Mail on Sunday, Markle denies all of the allegations against him. He had a leg amputated last year, and tells the paper he is not well enough to go to the Philippines but will speak to anyone who wants to talk to him. "I have nothing to hide," he says.

The Sunday Telegraph also reports that wind-up radios are selling out after the government's emergency stockpiling announcement, with sales up fivefold at some retailers. An industry source says some shops were surprised by the advice that people should keep three days' worth of food and water, which came just a day after a worldwide scramble to fix vulnerabilities in the software underpinning the internet. One business owner tells the paper: "I thought my phone was glitching or had been hacked when I saw the number of orders coming in."

Much of this is newspaper reporting of what the Budget is believed to contain, and the lede also mentions comments from the prime minister on EU free movement, though the detail is not set out here. Wednesday will show whether the carbon charge, the defence money and any change to the pension age appear as reported.