Monday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Barclays, retailers, restaurants

Theresa May will move to seize back the initiative from mutinous Tory MPs on Monday by promoting her Brexit deal with a defiant speech to business leaders, even as critics in Westminster scramble to trigger a no-confidence vote in her leadership. As she enters perhaps the most perilous week of her premiership, May will insist at the CBI annual conference in London that her deal delivers on the central demand of voters in the 2016 referendum, by allowing the UK to control immigration. - Guardian

European citizens will no longer be able to “jump the queue” for jobs in Britain, Theresa May will pledge today as she attempts to shore up political support for her troubled Brexit blueprint. In a speech to business leaders, the prime minister will take on her cabinet critics, making clear that she will not attempt to reopen negotiations with the European Union over the withdrawal agreement. - The Times

Tory hard Brexiteers yesterday issued a five-point attack on Theresa May’s plan, claiming that it would amount to Britain handing over £39 billion with “nothing guaranteed in return”. In its first official response to the government’s proposed withdrawal agreement, published last week, the European Research Group (ERG) of ultra-Eurosceptic Tory MPs said that the deal would leave Britain “half in and half out” of Europe. - The Times

Theresa May will confront the “gang of five” Cabinet Brexiteers on Monday by saying she will not renegotiate the EU Withdrawal Agreement, in a move that risks prompting fresh ministerial resignations. The Prime Minister will use a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) to say the terms of the UK’s divorce from the EU have been “agreed in full” and the only thing left to discuss is the future trade deal. - Telegraph

The president of Britain’s most powerful employers’ body, the CBI, is to endorse Theresa May’s draft European Union withdrawal agreement, arguing that while not perfect it opens “a route to a long-term trade arrangement”. Joining a growing chorus of business leaders warning that a cliff-edge Brexit could be calamitous for the UK economy, John Allan will use a speech on Monday at the CBI’s annual conference in London to warn that Brexit turmoil is “damaging our country now”. - Guardian

Jeremy Corbyn will set out Labour’s “good Brexit plan” on Monday, saying that leaving the European Union must be the catalyst for a “radical programme of investment and real change” as the party steps up efforts to show it has an alternative to Theresa May’s approach. Speaking to business leaders at the CBI’s annual conference in London, which will also be addressed by the prime minister, Corbyn will claim May’s deal, published last week, would “leave the country in an indefinite halfway house without a real say over our future”. - Guardian

Nicola Sturgeon has promised to reveal her plans for a second independence referendum in the “not too distant future”, after claiming there was currently too much “chaos” over Brexit. The First Minister, who was asked when she was going to “have the guts” to make an announcement on indyref2, said she would first have to let the dust settle on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. - Telegraph

Britain is running out of food warehousing space as retailers and manufacturers rush to stockpile amid growing fears of a no-deal Brexit, it has emerged. Frozen and chilled food warehouses, storing everything from garden peas to half-cooked supermarket bread and cold-store potatoes, are fully booked for the next six months, with customers being turned away, industry representatives said. - Guardian

The activist investor pushing Barclays to curtail its investment banking ambitions has told other shareholders that he could push for a seat on the board if he feels he is being ignored. Edward Bramson could begin a proxy fight against Barclays if he does not get the response from the bank he was looking for, a leading UK fund manager said. - The Times

Britain’s battered high streets will take another pounding this week with retail experts predicting that the Black Friday phenomenon will push even more shoppers online and slash footfall during the crucial pre-Christmas sales period. The Springboard group, which tracks shopper numbers at 4,500 locations across the UK, said it expects footfall will drop by 3.7% compared with Black Friday 2017, and by 2.7% over the weekend as a whole. - Guardian

The tale of a distressed shopkeeeper has mushroomed into a nationwide initiative helping 10,000 independent retailers fight for survival. The Just A Card campaign was started by London-based artist Sarah Hamilton three years ago after she read a mournful first person account of the owner of an arts and crafts shop facing closure. - Guardian

Business owners who suffer the worst treatment by banks will be no better off under government-backed proposals for giving small companies better protection, MPs have been warned. The all-party parliamentary group on fair business banking is due to contact all 650 MPs this week to say that a planned extension of the Financial Ombudsman Service, Britain’s financial arbiter, will “never” be enough to address “many difficult issues” faced by small and medium-sized companies when dealing with lenders. - The Times

Ministers have seized upon a €200 million satellite construction deal as evidence of corporate confidence in British industry as the country prepares to leave the European Union. About 500 Airbus workers in Portsmouth and Stevenage will help to make key components for two new satellites that have been ordered by Eutelsat, the French operator that beams television and radio broadcasts into hundreds of millions of homes. Final assembly of the satellites will take place in Toulouse, France. - The Times

Britain’s top pubs, bars and restaurants, including Pizza Hut, YO! Sushi and TGI Fridays, saw slow sales growth last month as business costs squeezed margins. Leading managed pubs and restaurants saw a 0.2pc increase in like-for-like sales in October, according to the Coffer Peach Business tracker, which is produced by the consultancy CGA. - Telegraph

The American activist investor calling for a shake-up at Playtech has written to the gaming technology group’s directors calling on them to cut all ties with Teddy Sagi, its billionaire founder. The Times understands that Jason Ader, from Spring Owl Asset Management, a New York hedge fund, expressed concern that Mr Sagi remains closely involved with the business, despite recently cutting his stake to only 4.8 per cent.

Russian gold miner Polyus has put back plans to sell down more of its shares in London as markets turn volatile and the gold price slides. The company, which is 82pc owned by Said Kerimov, has a 17.5pc free float of its shares in London and Moscow. But Mikhail Stiskin, chief financial officer, said that while the goal of a 30pc float was a “long-term objective”, there was now “no timeline” for a selldown. - Telegraph

A Sydney-based litigation funding house is preparing to float in London next month as more investors in Europe take a punt on lawsuits in the hope of pocketing chunky damages. Litigation Capital Management, which claims that 95pc of its cases have reached settlement, is placing its bets on the growing popularity of litigation funding in Europe by opening an office in London and delisting from the Australian Securities Exchange to instead float in the UK. - Telegraph

Shoppers should choose organic or high-welfare meat to combat the rise of antibiotic-resistant bugs, England’s chief medical officer has urged. Dame Sally Davies has warned that if antibiotics stop working, society faces an “apocalyptic” scenario in which treatments including chemotherapy and hip replacements become impossible and common infections kill. - The Times

Thousands of people do not have access to basic toilet facilities in their workplace in the UK, according to a major union. Unite said it had uncovered evidence of staff at branches of big high-street banks being required to urinate in buckets, and construction sites failing to provide any female toilets. - Guardian

A string of subsidy-free solar farms will move ahead within weeks, marking the first fresh private investments in renewable energy without government handouts. Private equity fund Horus Capital said its new solar development arm, Suncore Energy, will begin construction of three new solar farms totalling 45MW from next month. - Telegraph

An independent watchdog funded by a levy on revenues generated by web giants should be established to combat “fake news”, academics say. The proposed agency would be asked to review how effectively online platforms such as Facebook and Google combat the spread of disinformation in Britain. - The Times

Facebook has agreed to pay $69m (£54m) to a group of investors who sued the social network for legal fees they incurred while fighting a plan to tighten Mark Zuckerberg's control of the company. Court documents filed in the US show that Facebook settled with the investors last month following "extensive arms-length negotiations", ending a lengthy legal battle over Mr Zuckerberg's controversial proposal. - Telegraph

A London-based start-up that aims to make it as easy to search for products in high street shops as it is on Amazon has partnered with Google to roll out across the UK. NearSt, which was founded three years ago by former digital consultants Max Kreijin and Nick Brackenbury, produces an app that allows people to find local stores that sells the item that they want, check that it is in stock and find the best route to get there. - Telegraph

Lightfoot, a telematics company whose product is described as a “fitbit for cars”, has won the backing of former Dyson boss Martin McCourt and BGF in a £3.2m investment deal. Mr McCourt, who ran the engineering giant for 15 years until 2011, will join Lightfoot’s board as chairman after making a “significant personal investment” as part of the deal, which follows a £1m injection from the state-backed Innovate UK in April. - Telegraph

Bankers, engineers and computer programmers in their 30s and 40s who are disenchanted with their jobs are targets for the biggest graduate recruiter as it tries to lure switchers into teaching. Teach First, which places thousands of new graduates into deprived secondary schools, has created Time to Teach for this older group, who will be encouraged to move out of cities. - The Times