Sunday newspaper round-up: Brexit payment, UK industrial strategy, TV ads, Shell, Lloyds
Theresa May has agreed with Brussels that Britain will hand over more than £40bn when the UK leaves the EU — but keep the final bill secret from the public even when the final deal is done in 2019. EU negotiators said the prime minister had provided a clear assurance to fellow leaders that her cabinet has agreed to pay more money after a crunch meeting last week — paving the way for formal talks on a new trade agreement to be approved at a summit in Brussels next month. - Sunday Times
An industrial strategy for the UK will be unveiled by the government tomorrow. The White Paper will outline plans to improve productivity and growth, support promising industries and encourage investment. Greg Clark, the Secretary of State for Business, is expected to propose a watchdog – similar to the independent Office for Budget Responsibility which produces economic forecasts – to monitor progress. - Mail on Sunday
Liam Fox has said a final decision on the Northern Irish border cannot be made until a UK-EU trade deal has been agreed, despite warnings from Brussels that trade talks cannot proceed unless an agreement is reached within days. Ireland is seen as the key obstacle to proceeding to negotiations about a future trade relationship with the EU at a December summit, with the Irish government vocally dissatisfied with the options offered so far to prevent a hard border with Northern Ireland. - Observer
Theresa May has been warned not to retreat from a pledge to “take back control of our laws” as she faced lobbying from at least one senior minister for a compromise with Brussels over the powers of European judges after Brexit. Eurosceptic ministers and backbenchers have expressed alarm at a plan being pushed in the Cabinet’s Brexit sub-committee for the UK to agree to a system of “voluntary referral” of cases to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) following Britain’s departure from the EU. - Sunday Telegraph
A Russian link to Boris Johnson and Michael Gove’s successful plot to persuade Theresa May to take a tougher stance on Brexit has been uncovered. It has been established that a secret letter sent by the Cabinet Ministers to the Prime Minister was co-ordinated by a senior figure in a free-market UK think-tank founded by a tycoon who made a fortune in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The financier who established that think-tank, the Legatum Institute, also helped President Vladimir Putin’s associates to take control of Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom. - Mail on Sunday
Leading lenders are bracing themselves for the results of tough stress tests by the Bank of England showing how badly they would fare in a sharp downturn. Banks will have to say how much capital they would lose if unemployment soared to 9.5 per cent and house prices fell by a third. - Mail on Sunday
Advertisers are expected to commit £1.2bn on TV ads to attract shoppers, with a record-breaking £6bn projected to be spent on all forms of marketing this Christmas. The 1% year-on-year boost in TV ad spending expected in the fourth quarter will mark the first growth since the second quarter of last year, when the Brexit vote triggered a weakening in the economy that has resulted in advertisers tightening their belts for the best part of the last 18 months. - Observer
Smartphone devices may have become so damaging a distraction that its effects showed up in the dismal set of official UK growth forecasts outlined in last week’s budget by Philip Hammond, the chancellor. Dan Nixon, a senior analyst at the Bank of England, argued last week that people were spending so much time checking their devices that a “crisis of attention” might lie behind the country’s sluggish productivity. - Sunday Times
Royal Dutch Shell is tipped to resume paying all its dividend in cash this week — unplugging a gusher worth billions of pounds for investors. Chief executive Ben van Beurden is expected to signal the move on Tuesday, when he lays out his vision for Britain’s most valuable public company. - Sunday Times
HBOS ‘deliberately concealed’ huge losses run up by crooked bankers formerly based at its Reading branch, according to a damning report compiled by a bank insider that concluded leading executives had ‘committed serious criminal offences’. The report also found that Lloyds was ‘aware’ of the issues at Reading before it took over HBOS in 2008 in a rescue merger during the depths of the financial crisis. - Mail on Sunday
Fears are mounting that the London Stock Exchange could fall victim to an opportunistic takeover bid as a result of its acrimonious boardroom split. A shareholder circular will be published this week that investors hope will shed light on the reason why Xavier Rolet, the LSE’s highly successful chief executive, has agreed to step down. - Sunday Times
A blockbuster cinema deal could see Vue International combine with Odeon to create a £3bn multiplex monolith. Vue, run by former Hollywood executive Tim Richards, is eyeing a possible takeover of its arch-rival after problems in its American parent company, AMC Entertainment. - Sunday Times
For five generations, the Booth family has been selling tea and groceries across northwest England. Now, that 170-year history looks set to end, with the Preston-based chain looking for a buyer. After a spell of turbulent trading that saw it fall to a loss of £6.3m last year, Booths has hired advisers from NM Rothschild to solicit takeover bids. - Sunday Times
The British government has been accused of being weak on tax avoidance after trying and failing to block the EU from taking the first step in naming and shaming its overseas territories in a tax haven blacklist. Ministers in recent weeks fought to prevent Brussels from sending of letters informing 12 countries that they would be listed unless they promised to change their tax rules. The final EU blacklist is due to be published on 5 December. - Observer
The government is coming under pressure to plough up to £100m into a new jet being developed by BAE Systems in a move unions say will safeguard jobs and help win export orders. Unions will tell MPs on the defence select committee that the money will accelerate work on a concept version of a new variant of the arms company’s Advanced Hawk training jet that will save hundreds of UK manufacturing jobs. - Sunday Times
Centrica is open to offers for its 20% stake in eight nuclear power stations, its chief executive has admitted. The British Gas owner holds the stake in the former British Energy alongside France’s EDF, but chief executive Iain Conn has been steering Centrica away from power generation. - Sunday Times
Transport secretary Chris Grayling is this week set to unveil a blueprint for overhauling the railways — including splitting two of the biggest routes. It is part of a fightback against Labour’s popular policy of renationalisation. His strategy is expected to advocate splitting the Great Western franchise, which runs from London to south Wales and the southwest. - Sunday Times
Britain's care home providers will be forced to declare their links to offshore tax havens. The clampdown by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) comes amid growing concerns over the future of Four Seasons, one of the biggest operators in the market. - Mail on Sunday
Buyout tycoon Guy Hands has tabled a last-ditch proposal to an American hedge fund to stave off the collapse of Four Seasons Health Care, one of Britain’s biggest care home operators. Hands’s Terra Firma Capital Partners has offered a “standstill” deal to the company’s main creditor H/2 Capital Partners. - Sunday Times
The publisher of the Daily Mail is to review the future of its struggling US property business Xceligent, which is embroiled in a damaging legal battle with a rival over allegations it ripped off data. It is understood that DMGT will reveal plans to reconsider investment in the company alongside its annual results on Thursday this week. - Sunday Telegraph
The case for fracking in Britain has weakened because of government action to extract more oil and gas from the North Sea and meteoric growth in renewable power, according to a Conservative MP tasked with developing the party’s energy policy. James Heappey said the new rules on tax relief for offshore oil and gas fields announced in last week’s budget could change the energy landscape. - Observer
The boss of one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders is in line for an ‘outrageous’ £50 million New Year shares windfall despite Theresa May’s crackdown on fat-cat pay. Persimmon’s chief executive Jeff Fairburn will next month pocket the first chunk of a share bonus worth a total of about £130 million at the current share price. - Mail on Sunday
Whitehall has come under attack for handing lucrative contracts to Silicon Valley’s biggest companies despite pledges to boost home-grown tech businesses. British IT companies claim they are being frozen out of profitable work for government departments, which are instead turning to Amazon and Microsoft. - Sunday Times
High street electrical chain Maplin is scrambling to reassure suppliers about its future in the run-up to Christmas after credit insurers cut their exposure to the retailer. QBE pulled cover last month, while fellow insurers Euler Hermes and Atradius are also understood to have scaled back their exposure, having been spooked by falling profits, and concerns about struggling sales and the wider retail downturn. - Sunday Telegraph
Hundreds of Welsh steel jobs have been safeguarded after the UK’s second-largest producer agreed a multi-billion debt refinancing. Spanish steel giant Celsa, which employs about 600 workers making steel at its Cardiff base and has a further 1,400 UK staff, has agreed a deal that will almost halve its debt load, easing pressure on the company’s finances. - Sunday Telegraph
Uber has admitted that 3,000 of its British drivers work more than 60 hours a week. The hours — which would be illegal for anyone driving a lorry, bus or most vans — are revealed in a letter submitted to the Commons business committee this month. A further 11,000 drivers work between 40 and 60 hours a week, Uber says. - Sunday Times
The head of a government employment review has hit out at Uber drivers for demanding improved worker rights at the same time as maintaining self-employment tax status. The drivers were attempting to gain the “best of both worlds”, said Matthew Taylor, who oversaw a government commissioned report into the modern labour market. - Sunday Telegraph
The biggest investigation in Britain into fake goods on social media has identified tens of thousands of listings for counterfeit products on Facebook, including potentially dangerous items. The digital giant is accused of failing to take down promotions and postings for fake designer clothes, watches and electrical items, which have helped it to generate millions of pounds of revenue. - Sunday Times