Wednesday newspaper round-up: Osborne, BHS, Kingfisher

George Osborne will threaten today to put 2p on the basic rate of income tax, raise fuel duty and slash spending on health, education, defence and pensions in an emergency budget in the weeks after a Brexit vote. In the Remain campaign’s most explicit ultimatum to voters, the chancellor outlines tax rises and cuts to frontline services of £30 billion, which are being readied in case Britain opts to leave the European Union next week. – The Times

Michael Sherwood, the co-head of Goldman Sachs in Europe, has bowed to pressure from MPs to appear before a parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of high street retailer BHS a year after it was sold by his client Sir Philip Green. BHS became one the UK’s most controversial corporate failures when it collapsed into administration little more than 12 months after Sir Philip sold it for £1 to a consortium led by ex-bankrupt Dominic Chappell. Its closure has put 11,000 jobs at risk and triggered a £275m rescue of its pension scheme. – Financial Times

A vote to leave the European Union would trigger economic and political convulsions in the UK, plunging the country back into recession and sending the pound sharply lower, a forecasting group has warned. Investors would rush to dump UK assets including shares and bonds in the immediate aftermath of voters choosing Brexit, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. – Guardian

Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q, will face further pressure over pay and conditions for staff at its annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday when campaigners will ask the DIY retailer to reverse cuts made this year. Siobhain McDonagh, Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, will ask the board to pay the independently verified living wage, in the latest move of a campaign backed by ShareAction and Citizens UK. – Guardian

If Europe’s political leaders awake on Friday June 24 to find that Britain has voted to leave the European Union – which judging by the polls is looking ever more likely – they will know who to blame most: themselves. For many citizens, there are much greater issues of principle and interest at stake in this referendum than the economy. But for me, economic and political stability are the prime consideration, which is why, as regular readers of my columns will already have guessed, I will be voting to remain. – Telegraph

Sir Philip Green will face MPs to give “his side of the very sad story” behind BHS’s collapse, which has put 11,000 jobs at risk and left a huge pension burden. The former BHS owner had threatened not to attend late last week after accusing Frank Field, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, of bias. - Telegraph