Tuesday newspaper round-up: Car industry warning, Carillion, Asda
The car industry has warned Theresa May there is “no Brexit dividend” for the business, with 860,000 jobs being put at risk unless the government “rethinks” its red lines in negotiations. In the starkest warning yet from a single business sector, the car lobby has told the government that it needs “as a minimum” to remain in the customs union and a deal that delivers “single market benefits”. - Guardian
Struggling city centres should end their dependency on retail by replacing shops with offices and housing, according to a report. The Centre for Cities thinktank said the increasing tendency for consumer spending to shift online was a particular risk for city centres in England and Wales that are overreliant on the consumer. – Guardian
The collapse of Carillion and a spate of casualties on the high street meant that one in four UK businesses suffered a financial hit on the back of customer, debtor or supplier insolvency in the first six months of this year. Around 10pc of companies said another firm’s demise had had a “very negative financial impact” on their business, according to research by the insolvency practitioners’ trade body R3. – Telegraph
The Pensions Regulator could seek to claw back money from Carillion’s former directors as it comes under increasing pressure from MPs to act in the face of the company’s yawning pension deficit. TPR said it was considering issuing a so-called 'contribution notice' against the senior management team behind the failed outsourcer, a move which would allow it to demand a contribution to the pension pot from particular individuals. – Telegraph
Asda has again been named the worst of the big four supermarkets in terms of its treatment of suppliers. A survey of about 1,000 suppliers and trade associations commissioned by the Groceries Code Adjudicator found that 8 per cent of companies that supply the Walmart-owned chain said that it rarely or never complied with a legally binding code of practice. – The Times
The government has rejected plans for a £1.3 billion tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay, saying the project would cost three times as much per unit of electricity as offshore wind and new nuclear power. Tidal Lagoon Power had hoped the project, involving a six-mile breakwater with turbines to generate renewable energy from the power of the tides, would be a “pathfinder” for five more tidal lagoons. Mark Shorrock, the green energy entrepreneur behind the project, hoped it could generate up to 320 megawatts of power at peak. Tidal Lagoon Power once aimed to start work on the project in 2015. – The Times