Tuesday newspaper round-up: Irish border, fund managers, Brexit plan, fracking
Boris Johnson’s secret plans to solve the Irish border Brexit challenge involve customs sites on both sides of the border and real-time tracking devices on lorries, it has been reported. The ideas, which mark a departure from his promise not to put infrastructure on the border, are part of four unofficial papers submitted by the UK to Brussels by Johnson’s team. The broadcaster RTÉ, which has had sight of the the tightly guarded proposals, is reporting that customs clearance sites would be sited five to 10 miles from the border to the north and the south to deal with imports and exports. – Guardian
Fund managers will be forced to issue clear warnings to customers investing in hard-to-sell assets to protect them from shock suspensions similar to the gating of Neil Woodford’s flagship fund. The Financial Conduct Authority’s rules, announced on Monday, will also require certain fund managers to draw up plans outlining how they would deal with an unexpected spike in the number of customers demanding to withdraw their cash. – Guardian
Boris Johnson will finally unveil his detailed plan for Brexit to EU leaders within the next 24 hours, The Telegraph can disclose. Downing Street will set out the Prime Minister’s preferred alternative to the Irish backstop in a series of calls to EU capitals ahead of a formal text being delivered to Brussels after his speech to the Conservative Party conference on Wednesday. – Telegraph
No more fracking is expected to take place in Britain this year after Cuadrilla Resources said that it was removing equipment at the UK’s only active site. The shale gas explorer halted fracking at Preston New Road near Blackpool in Lancashire in late August after triggering a 2.9-magnitude earthquake. The Oil & Gas Authority is still investigating the incident, which was felt widely in the area and which residents claim caused damage to property. – The Times
The government is facing fresh calls to avoid a no-deal Brexit after optimism in the City fell at its fastest pace since the global financial crisis. The latest quarterly survey of the financial services sector by the CBI, the corporate leaders’ lobby group, and PWC, the accountancy firm, found that 62 per cent of the 83 companies surveyed were less optimistic about the business situation compared with three months ago and only 5 per cent were more upbeat. – The Times