Thursday newspaper round-up: Wealth taxes, electrical items, Birkenstock

Rachel Reeves is under pressure to drop Labour’s blanket opposition to higher taxes on wealth, amid growing alarm within the party over extreme levels of inequality and the battered state of Britain’s public finances. After a conference in Liverpool designed to showcase party unity and economic credibility, trade union leaders and senior figures on the shadow chancellor’s left said they would keep “banging the drum” for a Labour government to raise billions of pounds more in tax from the very richest. – Guardian

Almost half a billion small, cheap electrical everyday items from headphones to handheld fans ended up in landfill in the UK in the past year, according to research. The not-for-profit organisation Material Focus, which conducted the research, said the scale of the issue was huge and they wanted to encourage more recycling. – Guardian

Birkenstock shares have slumped almost 13pc on its New York debut, sparking fresh fears over the health of the IPO market. Shares in Birkenstock ended the day at $40.20 (£32.70), below the $46 price the 250-year-old German sandal maker set for its debut this week. It came despite reports that Birkenstock believed it was pricing its offering conservatively, opting to go for the middle of its $44-$49 range rather than the top, even though there was said to be solid demand. – Telegraph

The suitors lining up to bid for The Daily Telegraph will be required to navigate three regulatory hurdles as they compete for control of the 168-year-old newspaper. Lloyds Bank will tell bidders they will have to submit to scrutiny from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as well as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Ofcom, the media regulator, as part of the auction process. It is understood the competition watchdog and Ofcom will examine the takeover simultaneously in what one insider called a “dual-track process”. – The Times