Wednesday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Uber, Monzo, Amazon
Boris Johnson has struck a secret deal with the Democratic Unionist party involving radical proposals for a Belfast-Dublin “bilateral lock” on post-Brexit arrangements on the island of Ireland. Details have emerged of the prime minister’s final Brexit offer that he will lay out on Wednesday, with Northern Ireland staying under EU single market regulations for agri-food and manufactured goods until at least 2025, at which point its assembly in Stormont will decide whether to continue alignment with EU or UK standards. – Guardian
Uber is expected to strike a deal for new, much larger UK headquarters in London once regulators have decided whether to ban the company from the city. The ride-hailing company is understood to be searching for between 75,000 sq ft and 100,000 sq ft of office space, with the hunt centred on the City of London. Sources suggested Uber had already considered three properties although it had not agreed a deal for any of them. – Telegraph
Monzo customers have hit out at chaos over refunds after the online lender cancelled a monthly subscription service. The bank is scrapping a £6-a-month service which gives customers perks including travel insurance and special bank card designs known as “Monzo Plus,” and said it would issue refunds to some customers. – Telegraph
Amazon is pushing ahead with plans to open a chain of grocery shops in the United States by signing dozens of leases for retail space around three big cities. The retailer is focusing on locations in and around Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia, The Wall Street Journal reported. – The Times
Neil Woodford’s embattled Patient Capital investment trust would be breaching its own ceiling on investing in unquoted stocks but for the listing of its biggest holding on an obscure exchange where the shares have been traded only once in seven months. Analysts at Investec said that the listed status of Rutherford Health on the Nex exchange enabled the trust to claim that unlisted stocks in its portfolio accounted for 79.8 per cent of gross assets, just below its 80 per cent ceiling. – The Times