Thursday newspaper round-up: Trade deals, pennies, BT, Aviva, cars
Britain will be free to sign trade deals during the Brexit transition period without permission from the European Union after a climbdown by Brussels, The Times has learnt. EU negotiators have accepted the UK’s demand that it should be able to pursue an independent trade policy while remaining inside the customs union and single market.
It’s all change for the Treasury’s plans to scrap 1p and 2p coins. Just 24 hours after the idea was floated by the chancellor in his spring statement, No 10 has signalled a retreat in the face of a public backlash. - The Times
BT is closing in on a deal with union leaders to shut its final salary pension and transfer workers to a defined contribution scheme, as it attempts to tackle its ballooning funding deficit. Officials at the Communications Workers Union (CWU), which represents rank and file BT workers, were today in discussions with local branches over a proposed settlement that would provide more protection for members but still allows the company to stop its defined benefit scheme accruing new and harder-to-predict liabilities. - Telegraph
The City watchdog has quizzed Aviva over its decision to cancel £450 million of preference shares, enraging the thousands of retail investors who own the stock. The Financial Conduct Authority said yesterday it was “making active inquiries into the matter” and had spoken to the insurance and savings company, its advisers and to the holders of the shares. - The Times
London is the cheapest it has been for overseas visitors in more than two decades as a consequence of Brexit, according to a report. The study by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that British cities have dropped to their cheapest levels internationally since at least the 1990s. - Guardian
The car industry must pay millions of pounds towards solving the UK’s toxic air crisis under the “polluter pays” principle, according to an unprecedented joint inquiry by four committees of MPs. The MPs call the poisonous air that causes 40,000 early deaths a year a “national health emergency” and are scathing about the government’s clean air plans. - Guardian
Ten thousand more people died in the first seven weeks of this year than would be expected, the biggest difference since the Second World War. Loneliness, overstretched hospitals and the crumbling elderly care system could all be contributing to a sharp increase in deaths, which suggests that British life expectancy is about to start falling, academics say. - The Times
A Silicon Valley darling once worth $9bn (£6.4bn) that claimed to have revolutionised the blood test has been charged with "massive fraud". Theranos, its founder Elizabeth Holmes, and its former president Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani, raised more than $700m from investors through an elaborate, years-long fraud, US regulators said on Wednesday. - Telegraph
Crocs, the manufacturer of a range of plastic clogs, has lost a battle to protect its design from copycats. Judges in Luxembourg backed a decision by the EU’s intellectual property office (EUIPO) in 2016 to cancel legal protection for the shoe. - Guardian