Thursday newspaper round-up: Autumn Statement, insurers, Barclays, EDF

Philip Hammond delivered his Autumn Statement bearing the scars of Brexit, but determined not to submit meekly to projections of a weaker economy and public finances. The chancellor’s strategy raised four important economic questions. What is the likely cost of Brexit? How much headroom has Mr Hammond created for the years ahead? Will he achieve his ambition to improve housing, productivity and regional imbalances? And what is the lasting effect of the vote to leave the EU? – Financial Times

Insurers have hit out at plans to increase insurance premium tax for the third time in 18 months, a move that is expected to raise more than £4bn for the Treasury but which was branded “a hammer blow for the hard pressed” by critics. IPT is added to about 50m car, home, private medical insurance and pet policies every year. – Telegraph

The travel search website Skyscanner has been bought by Chinese counterpart Ctrip.com in a deal worth £1.4bn (US$1.74bn). Ctrip.com International, China’s biggest online travel company, said it had agreed to buy Scotland-based Skyscanner Holdings. – Guardian

As the clock ticks down to Black Friday, aggressive promotions on everything from 4K TVs to tablet computers and winter coats could be the last hurrah for shoppers before price hikes in 2017. After bargain-hunting consumers went on the rampage on Black Friday in 2014, fighting in the aisles for cut-price widescreen televisions, last year it was a much tamer affair, as shoppers retreated to the safety of seeking the best bargains online. – Guardian

A top Barclays financier was dismissed after an interview he gave to the Serious Fraud Office as part of a criminal investigation into the bank’s Qatari capital-raising was passed to the lender, a London tribunal has been told. Richard Boath, former chairman of financial institutions at Barclays, is set to claim at an employment tribunal that he was dismissed as a direct result of the SFO’s decision to hand over a transcript of the interview from 2014 to the bank, his lawyer said. – The Times

EDF has delayed the restart of two nuclear reactors in France after a safety investigation that has thrown the country’s state-controlled nuclear industry into crisis. French electricity prices surged by 9 per cent yesterday after the French energy company said that the restart of its 900 megawatt Dampierre 3 and 1,500 megawatt Civaux 2 reactors had been postponed until December 31, a time when electricity demand is close to its annual peak. – The Times