Friday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Apple, BT, UK power cuts

George Osborne is pushing the Group of 20 leading economies to warn about the dangers of the UK leaving the EU, in the latest sign the government is seeking powerful global backing for the case for remaining in the bloc. The chancellor’s drive to include a warning about Brexit in the official G20 finance ministers and central bank governors’ communiqué tomorrow underlines how seriously the government is taking the early stages of the campaign for the June 23 EU referendum, compared with its slower start in the 2014 vote on Scottish independence. – Financial Times

The demand by the FBI that Apple help it break into the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone breaches its constitutional rights under the First and Fifth Amendments by seeking to “conscript and commandeer” its employees, the Silicon Valley company argued in a legal response on Thursday. Apple filed its “motion to vacate” last week’s order by a judge in California a day before Friday’s deadline, as Silicon Valley’s largest companies lined up behind the iPhone maker’s case. – Financial Times

BT has branded Ofcom’s plan strip it of control of the finances of Openreach unnecessary, claiming that there is a “lack of understanding” about how the network division invests £1bn annually. Ofcom has spared BT full structural separation, instead suggesting Openreach should become a wholly owned subsidiary with an independent board that controls budget and strategy. – Telegraph

More than half of small business owners feel they have not been given enough guidance about the implications of leaving or staying in the EU, according to a survey of 4,000 company directors. The Federation of Small Businesses, which conducted the research, said around four in 10 people are on the fence and could be persuaded to vote either way before the referendum in June. – Telegraph

A group representing 60 local authorities has warned that recent closures of large power stations have left Britain heading for power cuts next winter, despite assurances to the contrary from the government. The Industrial Communities Alliance (ICA), an all-party association of councils from across Britain, said National Grid needed to act immediately to fill the supply gap by sending out new contracts for at least 2,500 megawatts (MW) of additional generating capacity – enough to power 2.5m homes. – Guardian

London City Airport has been sold to a Canadian consortium for around £2bn. The airport in Docklands largely serves a clientele of business executives and has been bought by a consortium led by the Ontario Teachers’ pension fund and Borealis, the pairing whose UK infrastructure investments include HS1. – Guardian

High street banks are stifling innovation and competition at the heart of the financial system, the new watchdog for the payments system says. They all need to sell some of their stakes in the organisation that provides the pipework though which billions of payments are made each year, the Payment Systems Regulator said yesterday. – The Times