Thursday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Aramco, Uber, Sainsbury-Asda
Britain would take unilateral action in the event of a no-deal Brexit to keep trade and transport flowing freely, Dominic Raab will pledge. In a speech coinciding with the publication of the first batch of technical notices laying out the government’s contingency plans for a no-deal scenario, the Brexit secretary will say that Britain would not risk triggering a tit-for-tat battle with Brussels by imposing new border checks or travel restrictions. – Guardian
A partial float of the Saudi oil giant Aramco – the biggest public listing in history – has been “indefinitely postponed” because of fears that its valuation would be much less than expected, according to senior regional sources. The decision was made earlier in the summer but has been kept under wraps by officials who were worried that shelving what was intended to be the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation plan may dent investor confidence in the Kingdom, two financiers with knowledge of deliberations revealed. – Guardian
Theresa May must "believe in Britain" and "chuck Chequers", Jacob Rees-Mogg and more than 60 Tory Eurosceptics have said in a letter to grassroots Conservatives. Earlier this month the Prime Minister wrote a letter to all members of the Conservative Party defending her plan, saying that it "honours" the result of the referendum. – Telegraph
Uber has agreed to pay tens of thousands of dollars to dozens of current and former employees for its role in a sexual harassment scandal. The US transport app will pay a total of $1.9m (£1.5m), or almost $34,000 per person, to 56 people who filed claims against the company, according to court documents filed in California this week. - TelegraphShare
Being told that J Sainsbury was planning to merge with Asda was, Adil Majid recalls, a surprise, “a bit of an ‘oh my god’ moment”. The 33-year-old Sainsbury’s store manager runs the Charlton Riverside supermarket in south London - and previously worked at Asda. It is a background that gives him an unusually close perpective on the proposed unification of Britain’s second and third largest supermarket chains. Indeed, if cleared by competition regulators, the tie-up will lift the combined Sainsbury’s and Asda above Tesco as the country’s biggest grocer, boasting a market share of more than 25 per cent and revenues of £51 billion. – The Times
Jeremy Hunt has backed President Trump’s criticism of the European Union over trade and has questioned the “clear imbalance” between European and American car tariffs. The foreign secretary said that he “can’t justify” why the import tax set by Brussels of 10 per cent on American cars was four times higher than the US levy on European cars. – The Times