Thursday newspaper round-up: Brexit, poll, aerospace, banks

Plans for a tight new relationship with the European Union in financial services after Brexit will not be included in the government’s long-awaited white paper to be published today. Instead the new approach to the City’s relationship with Brussels, which will mean less access to the European market for UK-based financial service groups, has been described as “cohabiting but without the same commitment as marriage”. - The Times

Theresa May faces a rebellion by dozens of her own MPs on Monday in a Commons vote that they hope will deliver a blow to her Chequers plan for Brexit. Jacob Rees-Mogg, who leads the European Research Group of Brexiteer Tory MPs, is tabling amendments to a bill that would challenge the plan. - The Times

Hardline Tory Brexiters plan to try to force Theresa May to publish a rival draft of the white paper drawn up by David Davis in the run-up to last week’s Chequers summit, which Downing Street ditched. The abandoned draft set out something closer to a Canada-style trade deal, with additional elements drawn from other EU agreements, sources said – an alternative to the approach to be set out in the government’s Brexit white paper, due to be published on Thursday. - Guardian

Labour has taken a two-point lead over the Tories in the first indication that the row over Theresa May’s Chequers compromise has damaged the party. After days of briefing, resignations and infighting, the Conservatives now trail Labour for the first time since March, according to the latest YouGov opinion poll. - The Times

President Trump stunned Theresa May and Nato allies yesterday by calling for them to double their defence spending target. The US president also undermined a communiqué, agreed by all 29 states of the alliance, with comments on Twitter within two hours of its release. - The Times

Comcast moved swiftly to table a £26bn offer to buy Sky, trumping Rupert Murdoch within hours of the media mogul tabling a new £24.5bn offer. Comcast’s £14.75p a share offer comes within hours of Murdoch making a new £14 a share offer valuing Sky at £24.5bn. - Guardian

The aerospace sector is at the beginning of a mergers and acquisitions bonanza as the industry’s leaders rethink their business models and digital technology drives change, according to a new research paper. Last year was a record year for deals within aerospace sector, with the top 10 biggest sales and mergers weighing in at $63bn (£47.5bn), according to the study by consulting firm AlixPartners. - Telegraph

Banks that mistreat small firms are “too big to take to court” and should be held to account by a tribunal, MPs have said. The all-party MP group on banking has urged the Government to legislate to set up an independent tribunal to judge on disputes between companies and their lenders. - Telegraph

There could be as many as 11 million electric vehicles on British roads by 2030 and 36 million by 2040, in what would be a major upheaval for the UK’s energy system. National Grid’s latest report on the future energy system overshoots the Government’s own targets which call for an end to petrol and diesel car sales by the same year. - Telegraph

House price growth in the West Midlands is rising faster than anywhere else in Britain as cities such as Birmingham experience a boom in their property market, according to Britain’s biggest mortgage provider. Figures from the Halifax and the data firm IHS Markit show house prices in the West Midlands rose by 7 per cent in the second quarter of this year, compared with a year ago, to reach an average price of £207,272. - The Times

Former Carillion boss Richard Howson has hit back at a report from MPs, calling it “misleading” and suggesting that late payment from the Government itself was partly to blame for the company's collapse. Mr Howson said the report, which was published last month following an inquiry by the pensions and business select committees, “had not considered all of the issues” to understand why Carillion went into liquidation in January. - Telegraph

....The chairman of KPMG has hit back at MPs in charge of the inquiry into the collapse of Carillion who called the firm’s audit of the outsourcing group “complacent”. Bill Michael, who took over running KPMG in September, months before Carillion went into liquidation, said the accusation “does not reflect the hard work and commitment of the Carillion audit team”. He said he “respectfully disagreed” with the MPs’ criticism and defended KPMG’s role as auditor. - The Times

Twitter is removing tens of millions of fake accounts from users’ followers as part of a campaign to restore trust in the microblogging site. The purge, starting today, is designed to tackle social media fraud in which users buy fake followers, often automated “bots”, to create the appearance of influence and enhance their careers. - The Times

BT shareholders have bid farewell to chief executive Gavin Patterson by staging a protest over his £1.3m bonus at the end of a disastrous final year in charge. At the telecoms giant’s AGM in Edinburgh more than a third of investors opposed its remuneration report, marking one of the biggest revolts against a FTSE 100 company so far this year.- Telegraph

The City tycoon Michael Spencer defied the wishes of outside shareholders in his broking business Nex, using his substantial shareholding to vote through a controversial bonus arrangement that will net him £18.6 million. Forty per cent of shareholders who voted rejected the remuneration report at the annual meeting yesterday. - The Times

A start-up online clothing retailer aimed at “fashion-conscious” women over 30 has recorded stellar sales but losses have grown as it invested heavily in the business. Sosandar said it had made a pre-tax loss of about £6 million, up from £1.8 million, in the year to the end of March. However, revenue jumped by 387 per cent to £1.4 million while the group’s gross margin improved by 11.6 percentage points to 49.4 per cent. - The Times

The new president of Catalonia, Quim Torra, has insisted he has a strong mandate to push for another independence referendum, as he visited Scotland for a meeting with the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon. Despite a recent poll in the Catalan newspaper El Periódico, which showed only 21.5% of Catalans want an independent republic, with 62% in favour of increased self-government, Torra told the Guardian: “These surveys also always show 80% say that this should be solved by voting, so there is a consensus."