Friday newspaper round-up: Treasury spending rules, US-China trade war, Boxing Day sales, Balfour Beatty, Emirates

The Treasury is planning to rip up decades-old public spending rules in an effort to boost economic wellbeing in the north and the Midlands. Under proposals being drawn up before the spring budget, ministers will reassess how officials calculate the value for money of government investments in transport infrastructure, business development and initiatives such as free ports. - The Times

The US-China trade war is the biggest threat to global growth as economists fear the uneasy truce between the two biggest economies could collapse with calamitous results. If it does flare up again - potentially under the strain of the US presidential election race - global growth could be slashed by almost 1 percentage point this year and 1.3 points next year, according to Jamie Thompson at Oxford Economics. - Telegraph

The Boxing Day sales were a damp squib for struggling high street retailers with the much smaller crowds blamed on a combination of bad weather and rival Black Friday discounts offered in November. Shoppers still started queueing before dawn outside shopping centres such as the Trafford Centre in Manchester and branches of high street chain Next. However, by closing time retail experts suggested visitor numbers were around 10% down on 2018. - The Guardian

The majority of UK airports are stinging holidaymakers travelling over the Christmas break with increased car parking fees, research has found. A comparison of parking charges at 13 airports over the festive period revealed that 10 were charging steeper fees this week than in the quiet period of the middle of January 2020. - Daily Mail

All students will graduate from some universities with a first-class degree in just over a decade because of grade inflation, according to research by The Times. If the inflation continues at its present rate, every student in the UK would achieve a first in 38 years’ time, the projections indicate. - The Times

The pay downturn caused by the 2008 financial crisis will end next year, Resolution Foundation analysis shows. The think tank’s research has forecasted an end to the UK’s unprecedented 11-year pay squeeze. - Telegraph

The British economy is on track for the weakest year outside of a recession since the second world war, as political turmoil and Brexit uncertainty dragged down growth, a Guardian analysis revealed. At the end of a turbulent year and following Boris Johnson’s election victory, surveys of business activity suggest economic growth in the final three months of 2019 has essentially stalled. The jobs market is showing signs of stress and public borrowing is steadily rising again after a decade of improvement. - Guardian

The latest Star Wars blockbuster has notched up £288m at the box office, including just under £21m in the UK. The Rise of Skywalker is the number one film in the UK at Christmas but early sales fell short of previous Star Wars films, with some critics panning the plot for lacking imagination. - Daily Mail

The AIM market, home to hundreds of London’s smaller companies, has had its worst year for initial public offerings. 10 businesses floated on the junior market - known as the Alternative Investment Market - this year, including Loungers, the café bar chain, and Argentex, the foreign exchange group, down from 42 in 2018 and 50 in 2017. Between 2004 and 2007 more than 1,000 companies listed, at an average of 260 a year. - The Times

The Duke of York secretly set up a private investment fund under an assumed name to channel deals brokered in Buckingham Palace, The Daily Telegraph reported. The Duke is the owner of four linked companies registered at Companies House under the name ‘Andrew Inverness’. The Duke, 59, was given the title Earl of Inverness by the Queen when he married Sarah Ferguson in 1986. - Telegraph

UK employment could fall in 2020, despite average UK pay being expected to pass its pre-crisis record, economists have said. The labour market is at a turning point, according to a report from the Resolution Foundation. It forecasts that average real pay - for inflation - surpass the peak it reached in 2008. - Guardian

A top construction firm was sacked from its refurbishment of the MI6 headquarters after a major security breach, it was reported last night. Balfour Beatty was axed from the project after more than 100 blueprints outlining layouts and alarm systems went missing from the home of the Secret Intelligence Service. - Daily Mail

Sir Tim Clark is to step down as president of Emirates after building the Gulf airline into the world’s largest long-haul carrier. The British-born executive will retire at the end of June next year after 35 years at the state-controlled company, which he has led since 2003. - The Times

Hospital car parking fees for blue badge holders and the parents of sick children staying overnight are to end from April, Matt Hancock has announced. The Health Secretary said the move was an example of the Government “delivering on our promises” and listening to people’s “concerns on the doorsteps”. - Telegraph

Disney has pulled more than half of its TV box sets from Sky’s streaming service, including popular series such as Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and the Marvel shows, as the entertainment giant prepares to launch its Netflix rival in the UK next year. The world’s largest entertainment company, which owns crown jewels from the Star Wars and Marvel franchises to Toy Story-maker Pixar and family favourites such as Frozen 2, is building a content arsenal to make sure its new Disney+ venture is a hit when it launches in the UK on 31 March 2020. - Guardian

Treasury officials are to tear up decades-old rules to allow more money to be spent in the Midlands and north of England. They are understood to be rewriting the regulations which critics say make it hard for government investment decisions to be approved in those areas. - Daily Mail