Monday newspaper round-up: Rates uproar, Brexit battles, RBS, Laird
Britain’s high streets face losing some of their most popular pubs and restaurants because of big rises in business rates, Philip Hammond has been warned. Companies including the owners of Pizza Express, Greene King pubs, Wagamama, All Bar One and Slug & Lettuce have written to the chancellor to ask him to rethink a plan under which some outlets will be hit with a 42 per cent increase in their rates this year. - The Times
Senior Conservatives have warned the Lords that it will face public outrage and abolition if it goes ahead with a plan to defeat Theresa May over Brexit. A coalition of Labour, Liberal Democrat and crossbench peers will amend the prime minister’s Brexit bill to make clear that EU citizens who were in Britain before the referendum will be allowed to stay in Britain. - Times
Britons may have to work longer if immigration is cut in the wake of Brexit, according to a warning from the Government’s pension adviser. John Cridland, a former CBI director reviewing the state pension age for the Government, said the “Brexit Factor” had made the future of the state pension uncertain. - Telegraph
Britons slashed their spending on new clothes and shied away from the high street in January as they juggled Christmas debts and rising living costs. Spending increased by a meagre 0.4% in January, according to Visa’s consumer spending index, a five-month low that followed December’s robust 2.5% increase. - Guardian
The standard of living is rising at its slowest pace since 2014 as inflation starts to catch up with wage growth, economists believe. Prices rose by 2pc in the 12 months to January, official numbers are expected to show this week, while pay growth is forecast to have stalled. - Telegraph
Britain is facing a post-Brexit shortage of talent with a marked decline in the number of overseas professionals looking for work in the UK, data from more than three million people reveals. The study by the networking website LinkedIn found a 12 per cent fall in the number of workers looking to come to the UK since the referendum in June. - Times
Continental companies should avoid investing in Britain because of uncertainty surrounding withdrawal from the EU, Europe’s largest management consultancy, Roland Berger, has warned. The intervention will revive concerns that uncertainty will begin to hamper the economy despite a better than expected performance since the referendum. - The Times
Greece should agree a new deal with its creditors as quickly as possible to avoid another crisis rocking the eurozone, the continent’s financial leaders have urged. The currency area’s most troubled nation should meet with the IMF and other countries to thrash out a set of economic and financial reforms rapidly to avoid a prolonged period of chaos, according to EU financial services chief Valdis Dombrovskis. - Telegraph
President Obama’s chief trade negotiator has cast doubt on Britain’s prospects of securing a quick deal with the United States, saying that the UK needs to redefine its relationship with the European Union before transatlantic talks can move to a “meaningful” stage. Serious negotiations between Britain and America will not be possible until the UK and the EU have agreed specifics on a broad range of issues such as tariffs, regulations, standards and quotas, Michael Froman, the former US trade representative, said in an interview with The Times.
Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing to cut more costs and chop more workers, but played down reports it will cut 15,000 staff in the next round of shrinking. The troubled bank is expected to report losses of £2.3bn for 2016 when it publishes its financial results later this month, its ninth consecutive year in the red. - Telegraph
Electronics component maker Laird is mulling a sale of one of its major divisions as the struggling company battles to turn itself around. Shares in the former FTSE 250 firm have plunged since it issued a profit warning in October and two months later announced a £185m rights issue, as well as scrapping the dividend. - Telegraph
Foreign billionaires are renting rather than buying luxury homes in London following increases in tax bills on upmarket properties. Lettings that cost more than £3,000 a week – £156,000 a year – increased by 28% in the last three months of 2016, according to research by the property data service LonRes. - Guardian
The olive oil shortage is coming, says Walter Zanre, boss of Filippo Berio UK, the nation’s best-selling olive oil brand, and it will be much worse than anyone realises. “Look at these numbers,” he says, spreading out sheets of data on olive harvests around the world. “2017 will be very bad for olive oil.”
Offshore windfarms could provide cheaper power than Britain’s new wave of nuclear power stations, a leading figure in the wind industry has claimed. Speaking to the the Guardian, Hugh McNeal, the chief executive of trade body RenewableUK, said he expected that offshore windfarms would secure a deal with the government lower than the £92.50 per megawatt hour agreed with EDF for £18bn Hinkley Point C. - Guardian
Pensioners are now £20 a week better off than working households – reversing the situation of 15 years ago. Research published by the Resolution Foundation found that in 2001 households relying on pensioner income were £70 a week less well off than those in work. - Guardian
If the art market is to be affected by Brexit, then the fate of Untitled (One Eyed Man or Xerox Face) will send a strong signal about what lies ahead. The piece by Jean-Michel Basquiat is the top lot in Sotheby’s sale of contemporary work in three weeks and is expected to fetch between £14 million and £18 million. - The Times