Friday newspaper round-up: Car insurance, Vodafone, The Telegraph

Car owners who pay for their insurance monthly rather than with a one-off lump sum are being charged interest of more than 30%, research has found, in what has been described by campaigners as a “poverty premium”. Insurers give customers the choice of paying one annual premium or breaking it up and paying over the course of the year. – Guardian

Britain’s beleaguered stock market has left City bosses increasingly nervous about the threat of foreign takeovers, according to new research. The majority of FTSE 350 board members surveyed by investment broker Deutsche Numis said their companies are at a greater risk of being acquired by buyers overseas in 2024. – Telegraph

The United Arab Emirates’ stake in the telecoms operator Vodafone is a threat to Britain’s national security, ministers have found. Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden intervened to demand protection from the Gulf state after it became Vodafone’s biggest shareholder with a 14.6pc shareholding worth £2.7bn. Mr Dowden said Vodafone, which holds sensitive Whitehall contracts and owns critical infrastructure including undersea cables, was at risk of “material influence” by the UAE. – Telegraph

The chairman of The Spectator called on the government to block the Abu Dhabi-backed bid for the Telegraph newspaper group last night on the grounds that no foreign state should own major UK media assets. Speaking on Newsnight, Andrew Neil said: “You cannot have a major mainstream newspaper group owned by an undemocratic government or dictatorship where no one has a vote.” – The Times