Monday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Brexit, Babylon
Senior Whitehall officials fear Thames Water’s financial collapse could trigger a rise in government borrowing costs not seen since the chaos of the Liz Truss mini-budget, the Guardian can reveal. Such is their concern about the impact on wider borrowing costs for the UK, even beyond utilities and infrastructure, that they believe Thames should be renationalised before the general election. Officials in the Treasury and the UK’s Debt Management Office fear that, unless the UK’s biggest water company is renationalised as soon as possible, “prolonged uncertainty” about its fate could “damage confidence in UK plc at a sensitive time”, with elections in the UK and the US later this year. – Guardian
Ireland has landed a €700m (£600m) Brexit bonanza with a steep increase in tax revenues flowing from customs duties now applicable to imports of clothing, food and other goods from Great Britain. Before Brexit, Britain enjoyed customs-free exports to Ireland and the rest of the EU because it was part of the single market and customs union. But when Boris Johnson sealed a hard Brexit and quit the single market, it meant fresh controls, checks and duties would be payable on exports to the EU. – Guardian
A wave of luxury vehicle thefts on Britain’s streets is being fuelled by Chinese companies selling cheap jamming devices, experts have warned. The jammers, which can block GPS, mobile phone and radio signals, range from cheaper, low-powered devices covering a couple of metres to more powerful ones capable of blocking signals within a distance of 100 metres or more. This allows car thieves to steal vehicles and then car thieves to steal vehicles and then block signals from any tracking devices, making it much harder to discover their whereabouts once they have been taken. – Telegraph
The former boss of Persimmon, who stepped down as chief executive of the listed housebuilder amid an outcry over his “unfathomable” pay package, is on a collision course with the American hedge fund backer of his new venture. Jeff Fairburn, best known in the City for a £75 million bonus payout at Persimmon in 2018, teamed up with Elliott Advisors to buy Avant Homes as the housing market prospered from a cut to stamp duty during the pandemic. – The Times
HM Revenue & Customs is investigating the tax affairs of Babylon, the insolvent healthcare technology company that was championed by Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, and had links to the Conservative Party. Officials are investigating tax matters relating to the period before the appointment in August of administrators from Alvarez & Marsal over Babylon Partners, the main British operating company. – The Times