Friday newspaper round-up: 'Project After', Brexit, housing, Mitie
Britain will cut taxes and slash tariffs under secret plans drawn up by officials to kick-start the economy in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Sir Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary, has led a cross-departmental team examining the "economic levers" that can be used to make Britain more competitive. - Telegraph
Theresa May is to hold talks with Irish premier Leo Varadkar today as she continues her shuttle-diplomacy to try to break the deadlock in the Brexit negotiations. After spending Thursday in talks in Brussels, the Prime Minister flies to Dublin in an effort to resolve the dispute over the Irish backstop which remains the main stumbling block to an agreement. - Telegraph
The UK’s planning system is in need of urgent reform if ministers want to hit their target of building more than 300,000 new homes a year, the public spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office attacked the Government’s “flawed” approach to assessing where homes need to be built and said house builders were not contributing enough towards local roads, schools and other public services. - Telegraph
New tram networks could be rolled out in towns and cities across England under government plans to cut congestion and pollution. The Department for Transport said that so-called light rail systems could help “reduce dependence on private cars”. A report published yesterday said that trams could carry 20,000 passengers an hour in each direction — about four times more than buses. - The Times
Fighting has broken out over the future of Libya’s largest oil field, as forces loyal to the UN-recognised Tripoli-based government battle Libyan National Army (LNA) forces led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the leading figure in fractured Libya’s east. Al-Sharara field, 560 miles south of Tripoli, is capable of producing 315,000 barrels of crude a day – about a third of Libya’s total current output. - Guardian
Britain will become a net importer of defence equipment for the first time in centuries by 2022, a report says. The switch from net exporter to net importer within the next three years is likely to compound concerns about the UK’s shrinking manufacturing base. - The Times
Mitie and Capita have emerged as the big winners from the demise of Carillion but public sector spending and activity appears to have slowed, according to analysis of the public sector contracting market. Interserve, the latest outsourcing group to suffer a run on its shares because of fears over its future, appears to be holding its own in the market for public sector support services. - The Times
Oaknorth, the fast-growing UK bank that specialises in lending to small and medium sized businesses, is understood to have agreed a $440 million investment from Softbank’s Vision Fund in the largest European fintech fundraising to date. The deal, which is expected to be announced today, follows Oaknorth’s last $100 million fundraising in October, and makes it one of the best funded technology companies in the world. - The Times
One of Britain’s six remaining coal-fired power stations is to shut this autumn after half a century, putting more than 150 jobs at risk. EDF Energy said that it would close the Cottam plant in Nottinghamshire on September 30 as it would no longer be economically viable to run. - The Times
News Corp swung to a profit in the last three months of 2018 as record digital advertising revenue from Dow Jones, its financial information division, helped it to beat Wall Street’s quarterly forecasts. Robert Thomson, 57, chief executive of News Corp, said that the results reflected “the power of premium content and authenticated audiences in a fact-challenged world that craves credibility”. - The Times
Amazon has made its most significant move into driverless cars to date by investing in a company led by the former head of Google's autonomous vehicle unit. Silicon Valley start-up Aurora said on Thursday it had raised $530m (£408m) from a group of backers including the online retail giant and fund management giant T Rowe Price. - Telegraph
A row has erupted between the mayor of London and the head of Britain’s largest used car dealership over plans to build 10,000 homes in west London. Tony Mendes, managing director of Cargiant, said plans to build thousands of homes in and around its 46-acre base at Old Oak Common were “unviable, unaffordable and undeliverable”.