Tuesday newspaper round-up: Brexit dividend, gigafactory, RBS
The government should force banks to let customers block all betting transactions, according to proposals led by the online lender Monzo, which wants gambling firms to hand over data to make sure the system is watertight. In a letter to the sports minister, Nigel Huddleston, who is leading a landmark review of gambling law, Monzo, campaigners and addiction experts called on the government to use the opportunity to remove obstacles for people who want to stop betting. - Guardian
Britain’s foremost economics thinktank has urged Rishi Sunak to use next month’s budget to announce a targeted extension of government support to tackle a “triple challenge” to the economy from Brexit, Covid and global heating. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the chancellor needed to steer clear of raising taxes in response to record peacetime borrowing of about £400bn inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic and called on him instead to focus on supporting the UK’s economic recovery from lockdown. - Guardian
Regulators must launch an unprecedented overhaul of red tape so Britain can seize on a “Brexit dividend” to boost the economy, according to a major report into the country’s competition regime. Watchdogs have a once in a generation opportunity to update their rules outside the orbit of Brussels so they can focus ruthlessly on promoting competition and protecting consumers, the report's author Tory MP John Penrose says. - Telegraph
Coventry airport could house a factory making batteries for electric vehicles as efforts to phase out the fossil fuel engine gather pace. The site has been picked by the West Midlands Combined Authority as the preferred site for a "gigafactory" in the region. Coventry City Council is now working with the airport’s owners to submit a planning application for the site to be used for battery manufacturing. - Telegraph
Banking customers at the state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland are the least satisfied in Britain, an industry-wide poll has found. Only 47 per cent of customers said that they would recommend the personal current account provider to family and friends in a survey commissioned by the Competition and Markets Authority. NatWest, which is owned by the same parent, NatWest Group, also languished near the bottom of the table. - The Times