Friday newspaper round-up: Brexit offer, flat pay, insurance, Black Friday

Theresa May will tell Donald Tusk on Friday she is prepared to give ground on the Brexit divorce bill as Brussels demands a written guarantee of more money to unlock trade talks. The European Council President will make it clear to the Prime Minister that Britain must give a “no strings attached” promise of paying substantially more than the current £20 billion on offer. - Telegraph

Britain’s leading financial thinktank has warned workers to expect an unprecedented two lost decades of earnings growth and many more years of austerity as a result of the marked slowdown in the economy announced in Philip Hammond’s budget. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said in its traditional post-budget analysis that forecasts slashing productivity, earnings and growth in every year until 2022 made “pretty grim reading”, and predicted that even by the middle of the next decade, Britain’s public finances would still be in the red. - Guardian

Home insurance companies may be overcharging up to 13 million UK households, new research suggests, with older people particularly hard hit. A study conducted by Citizens Advice and published on Friday shows that 40 per cent of people over the age of 65 have had their home insurance policy for over five years, which means they could be paying 70 per cent more than a new customer would for the same policy. - Independent

Online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay will be forced to police their own websites to prevent billions of pounds of VAT fraud, under a renewed government crackdown on the scam. The move represents the second effort in as many years to close down an estimated £1.2bn-a-year tax fraud and follows a Guardian investigation as well as criticism of HM Revenue & Customs for being slow to act. - Guardian

Shoppers will splash out more than £2.5bn on Black Friday deals, as the UK continues its affair with the US-inspired discount day. Sales will continue over the weekend with £7.3bn expected to be spent between Friday morning and Monday night according to the Centre for Retail Research and the Vouchercodes website. - Guardian

Ministers still do not “grasp” the complexities of leaving the European Union, the British judge on the European Court of Justice has privately warned, questioning the calibre of politicians negotiating Brexit. Ian Forrester, Britain’s representative on the European Court of Justice for the past two years, candidly told Irish diplomats that there were “issues around the quality of politicians in Westminster at present”. - The Times

Unilever has hired headhunters to find a successor to Paul Polman as chief executive of the Anglo-Dutch food to toiletries group. Mr Polman oversaw the expansion of Unilever and a series of acquisitions to broaden its product range but will probably be best remembered for the failed takeover bid of the group this year by Kraft Heinz. - The Times

The activist fund attempting to have the chairman of the London Stock Exchange voted off the board at a forthcoming shareholder meeting could bring legal action against the exchange’s directors. The Times understands that TCI Fund Management could try to force the exchange to disclose the service contracts of its directors, including any payoff its departing chief executive, Xavier Rolet, may be due. - Times

Britain’s booming craft beer industry helped delivery firm APC Overnight post a 30pc growth in pre-tax profits to £3m last year. Revenues at APC, which has 112 sites around the UK, crept up 0.8pc to £103m in the year to March 31 as the company moved away from so-called “heavy traffic” like white goods and carpets towards smaller parcels and packets, shipments of which have increased as online shopping has boomed. - Telegraph

Harrods will undergo its biggest-ever facelift as the luxury store spends £200million to attract more Chinese customers. In the biggest single investment in its 180-year-history, owners Qatar Holding will redevelop the shop's 330 departments, covering a million square feet of floor space. - Mail

The “global titans of technology” are forcing workers into a form of slavery, Britain’s trade union chief will tell Catholic and labour movement leaders at the Vatican on Friday. Trade unions and the Catholic church must build “a popular alliance for economic justice”, Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, is to say in a speech in Rome. - Guardian

Cyclists could be made to wear helmets for the first time in a review of bike safety. A government consultation in the new year will consider whether helmets and high-visibility vests should be mandatory on British roads, the transport minister Jesse Norman said. - The Times