Sunday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Vodafone, Saga

The Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, has signalled to Michel Barnier, the EU’s frontman, that he will recommend Britain leaves without a trade deal unless Brussels drops demands the UK continue to align with its rules on state aid. Frost took a tough stance a week ago in private meetings with Barnier, which failed to advance the talks. Barnier then demanded to see the UK’s blueprint for its domestic subsidy regime after the transition, which is not likely to be published until the end of September. - Sunday Times

Mobile phone giant Vodafone has suffered a defeat in court that could open the door to a wave of legal challenges by landowners that host 5G phone masts. Operators such as Vodafone pay landowners billions of pounds in rents every year at thousands of sites – but hoped to reduce these under the Electronic Communications Code, which was introduced in 2017. It was designed to speed up the roll-out of 5G by cutting costs for operators hoping to install the infrastructure quickly and cheaply. - Mail on Sunday

The former owner of Saga, who became a billionaire after selling the over-50s holiday and insurance group in 2004, is returning to the business by investing £100m to shore up the company’s finances. Sir Roger de Haan, who sold Saga for £1.35bn 16 years ago, will inject the funds in return for a stake in the company of around 20%, with the company seeking a further £50m from existing investors. - Guardian

BP is planning to quit its historic international headquarters in central London as the energy giant cuts 10,000 jobs and scales back its office space. The FTSE 100 group, which employs 6,500 office staff in the UK — in the capital and in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey — plans to rent back the building from the new owner for up to two years before leaving for good. - Sunday Times

The UK economy could lose almost half a trillion pounds of output if workers fail to return to their offices, a study estimates. Douglas McWilliams, a former chief economic adviser to the Confederation of British Industry, has warned the economy will not return to its pre-pandemic size until 2025 if home working continues in its current form, which would add up to at least £480bn in lost activity. - Guardian

More than a quarter of a million workers at stalwart British firms have been laid off since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Mail can reveal. Gatwick Airport, sandwich chain Pret a Manger and BMW Mini became the latest to swing the jobs axe last week, meaning around 255,000 roles have been cut or marked for the chop since March, according to a Mail audit. This number includes overseas workers laid off by British firms. But now more than 153,000 positions have been slashed in the UK alone. - Mail on Sunday

Some of the world's biggest airlines have called on the British and US governments to introduce testing at airports to end quarantine and help unlock £200billion in trade between the two nations. Industry heavyweights have written to the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, his US counterpart Elaine Chao and the acting US homeland security chief Chad Wolf demanding a testing trial between New York and London by the end of next month. - Mail on Sunday

Tax rises could “choke off” the UK’s coronavirus recovery, trigger an exodus of top talent and cripple the nation’s investment appeal after Brexit, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been warned. The intervention from a host of business leaders, economists and Tory MPs comes amid speculation that Mr Sunak is considering a major rise in corporation tax from 19 per cent to 24 per cent as part of plans to repair a gaping fiscal hole in the wake of the pandemic. - Sunday Telegraph

Turkey has said that any attempt by Greece to expand its maritime border would be an “act of war” as it prepares for new military drills north of Cyprus this week. Leaders of Nato, of which both countries are member states, and the EU are trying to calm tensions in the eastern Mediterranean. But Turkey has continued to issue threats over Greece’s insistence that its islands allow it to claim rights over much of the Aegean. The Turkish Ministry of Defence has posted a video on its website of what it said was a confrontation between its F-16 fighters and Greek warplanes on Thursday, with the Turkish jet apparently “locking on” to its Greek rival. - Sunday Times

Ocado’s chief executive has fired a withering parting shot at Waitrose on the eve of its switch to Marks & Spencer. From Tuesday, Ocado will sell food from M&S rather than Waitrose, ending a turbulent 20-year relationship. Tim Steiner said: “They [Waitrose] have done an advert saying ‘we’ll take it from here’ or something. Well, they can’t take it from here because they don’t have the technology, the infrastructure or the systems. To put it bluntly, they don’t understand the online market like we do.” - Sunday Times