Wednesday newspaper round-up: Gambling industry jobs, foreign takeovers, luxury brands
Two Conservative MPs have accepted jobs with the gambling industry worth tens of thousands of pounds before a government review of betting laws, the Guardian can reveal. The Ladbrokes owner, GVC, paid Philip Davies £33,320, or £396 an hour, for “providing advice on responsible gambling and customer service”, according to parliamentary disclosures. - Guardian
Ministers are seeking sweeping powers to block takeovers by Chinese and other foreign companies on national security grounds as part of the biggest shake-up in the UK’s industrial intervention policy for nearly two decades. A national security and investment bill is due to be published on Wednesday, which would also allow ministers to retrospectively halt acquisitions any time in the five years after the deal was concluded. - Guardian
Some of the world’s biggest luxury brands have warned Rishi Sunak that a proposed ban on tax-free shopping would cost the Treasury billions of pounds and trigger a brutal slump in tourism. Bosses of 11 firms including Gucci and Hugo Boss told the Chancellor in an open letter that his planned crackdown on VAT-free shopping for tourists would saddle Britain with the least competitive regime in Europe. - Telegraph
Economists have upgraded Britain’s growth forecasts amid hopes that Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine will end the health restrictions that have hammered businesses and the economy this year. GDP may return to pre-pandemic levels as soon as the middle of next year as life gets back to normal faster than many forecasters had dared predict. Those that produced a range of scenarios said that their “upside” projections now appeared more likely. - The Times
Thousands of investors who were locked out of their accounts on the busiest trading day on record will not receive compensation, despite some claiming losses of up to £10,000. Customers of Hargreaves Lansdown, Fidelity and AJ Bell, which collectively manage more than two million accounts, were unable to trade on Monday as the businesses’ systems could not cope with a surge in demand. - The Times