Friday newspaper round-up: Hinkley Point, Halfords Boss, oil prices

Generations of British consumers have been locked into a “risky and expensive” project by the UK’s subsidy deal for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset, according to a damning report by the spending watchdog. The National Audit Office said the contract sealed by ministers last September with EDF to construct the country’s first new atomic reactors in two decades would provide “uncertain strategic and economic benefits”. – Guardian

Jill McDonald, the boss of Halfords, is missing out on £1.7m of bonuses from the bikes and car parts retailer as she jumps ship to Marks & Spencer. However, the executive, who will have spent only two and a half years at Halfords, is unlikely to feel shortchanged as M&S’s policy is to offer payments or buyout awards to new recruits to make up for bonuses missed at their former employer. – Guardian

Peter Hambro has lost his bid to stop a major Russian investor from filleting the board of Petropavlovsk, the gold mining company he co-founded more than 20 years ago. Shareholders at the London-listed miner’s AGM voted 70pc in favour of a resolution by Renova to oppose the reappointment of Mr Hambro. They also voted down the reappointment of the company's three independent non-executive directors. – Telegraph

Fears of a clampdown on China’s swashbuckling corporate empire builders are mounting after authorities in Beijing began gathering financial intelligence on big-spending conglomerates. Banking regulators ordered lenders to report on companies that have spearheaded Chinese international expansion with hundreds of billions of pounds of debt-fuelled acquisitions in recent years, including in the UK. – Telegraph

Falling oil prices mean two things for cash-strapped British households: cheaper petrol and lower energy bills. With less to shell out on filling up the tank or keeping the home warm, families feel wealthier and spend more in shops. Business likes it, too. As energy costs fall, they are more likely to invest. Common sense is borne out by analysis. A 10 per cent fall in oil knocks about 0.15 percentage points off the consumer prices index of inflation and adds 0.1 percentage points to growth, the Bank of England estimated in 2015. The following year, Ben Broadbent, the Bank’s deputy governor, declared the 75 per cent drop in oil prices since 2014 a “net good” for the economy. – The Times

Central banking may have become too political and policymakers too overstretched to manage interest rates properly, a leading Bank of England ratesetter suggested yesterday. Kristin Forbes, 46, said the expanded role of central banks across the world since the financial crisis have exposed policymakers to political attacks and new pressures that are making them more timid. – The Times