Friday newspaper round-up: Brexit, BoE split, money laundering, National Grid
Theresa May will make a last-ditch attempt to persuade the EU to give her a better Brexit deal on Friday, as she struggles to hold her crumbling government together following a day of cabinet embarrassments in Westminster. The prime minister will plead with EU leaders to offer further concessions, as it became clear that talks in Brussels have stalled and hardline Eurosceptics in her party are likely to vote down the deal for a second time in parliament next week. - Guardian
...The prime minister is being warned by Remainers in the cabinet that she will lose control of Brexit next week unless she holds a series of humiliating votes on alternatives to her deal if it is defeated a second time. Theresa May is expected to lose the vote on Tuesday after failing so far to win concessions from Brussels on the Irish backstop. She will seek to lay the blame on the EU, saying that the outcome of the vote will depend on it shifting its position. - The Times
The UK will have replicated less than half the international agreements the EU has in place with other countries by Brexit day, the government has confirmed. Just 43 of the 161 international treaties and agreements currently in place, including 11 aviation deals to allow planes to keep flying to countries such as Canada and the US, have been rolled over. - Guardian
Splits are emerging among Bank of England ratesetters after a second member of the monetary policy committee said that they were likely to cut rates in a no-deal Brexit. Silvana Tenreyro, 45, one of four external members of the nine-strong committee, has joined Gertjan Vlieghe, 48, another external, in signalling that she would loosen policy. - The Times
Hundreds of billions of pounds could be being laundered through the UK every year, but the government is unable to give a precise figure of the scale of the problem, MPs have found. In a report on economic crime, the Treasury committee said the scale of the problem in the UK was very uncertain, with estimates ranging from tens of billions of pounds upwards. - Guardian
National Grid is preparing to jump into the US renewable energy market by paying up to $225m (£171m) for wind and solar company Geronimo Energy. The grid operator’s latest move deeper into the US energy industry will see it pay $100m for Geronimo, which owns a 2.2GW stable of wind and solar farms. - Telegraph
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been dealt another blow after a judge accused its investigators of failing to secure key evidence for a landmark trial of four former Barclays bankers. A court heard on Thursday that Mr Justice Jay had ruled before the trial began in January that the SFO "failed to take reasonable and appropriate steps" to obtain potentially crucial documents. - Telegraph
The new chair of one of the UK’s most influential business groups has accused Britain’s biggest companies of lying when they say they cannot find enough female or ethnic minority directors. Charlotte Valeur, who joined the Institute of Directors (IoD) in September, said she would start calling for new laws next year to force firms to improve their diversity if FTSE 350 companies failed to make faster progress. - Guardian
Female-led businesses outside of London grew faster than those in the capital last year, new figures show. An analysis of companies run by women that turned over between £1m and £250m in 2017 details how businesses in the South West had a median growth of 26%, ahead of London-based enterprises which grew at 25%. - Telegraph
All-male boards could be a thing of the past by the end of the year at Britain's 350 biggest companies, new data shows. There are just three companies in the FTSE 350 index which operate without a woman on their board, including global hotel chain Millennium & Copthorne who parted company with their female CEO after just three months in the job. - Telegraph
Airbnb is acquiring the last-minute hotel booking site HotelTonight for an undisclosed amount of money. The privately owned home-sharing company announced on Thursday that it had signed an agreement with HotelTonight in advance of a potential public float this year. - Telegraph
The international hotel giant Accor has launched an investigation into allegations that staff at one of its Australian hotels have been segregating Aboriginal guests in lower quality rooms. The French multinational company said on Friday it was “extremely saddened and disappointed” at the revelations, which were reported by the ABC’s Background Briefing program. - Guardian
The security clearance of Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, is being reviewed by the Pentagon after he appeared to smoke marijuana on a US comedian’s podcast, according to Bloomberg, the news agency. Mr Musk, 47, has security clearance because SpaceX provides satellite launch services to the US government. He provoked a Twitter storm after he appeared to smoke marijuana, drink whiskey and wield a sword on a show hosted by Joe Rogan in September. - The Times