Wednesday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Amazon, BHS, MyLocal
Whitehall is preparing for the biggest bureaucratic upheaval for a generation in the event of a Leave vote, as the engine of British government is reconfigured and centralised to cope with an EU exit. While informal planning is kept to a tight circle, officials at the top of the civil service are looking at options to create either a Brexit super-ministry or a dedicated trade department to manage an EU divorce and its consequences, according to aides familiar with the discussions. – Financial Times
The UK agency in charge of deciding which drugs the NHS will pay for has approved five different treatments, includingmedications for lung cancer and melanoma, in a coup for some of Europe’s biggest pharmaceutical companies. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended that drugs to treat lung cancer, high cholesterol, melanoma and a condition called hidradenitis, where sweat glands, in areas such as armpits and groin, become inflamed, leading to abscesses, boils and lesions, should be routinely funded across the NHS - albeit at heavily discounted prices. – Telegraph
Convenience store chain My Local, which was created fromMorrison’s cast-offs just nine months ago, has filed notice to appoint administrators, putting around 1,700 jobs at risk. It is understood that KPMG, which has been working with the company for sometime, is waiting in the wings and My Local is expected to formally enter administration next week. – Telegraph
Amazon is quietly rooting out many of its Chinese traders who do not hold UK VAT numbers to try to protect itself from tax evasion inquiries later this year when new HMRC powers come into force, the Guardian has learned. The online retailer has been conducting a review of sellers’ VAT compliance in the UK. It is understood to have contacted many Chinese sellers, giving them until the end of the month to provide their VAT numbers. – Guardian
Jaguar Land Rover, Britain’s biggest carmaker, estimates its annual profit could be cut by £1bn by the end of the decade if Britain leaves the European Union, according to two sources familiar with the company’s thinking. The worst case scenario estimate is outlined in internal documents seen by both sources that were prepared by the firm’s chief economist, David Rea, to outline the possible consequences if Britons vote to leave the world’s biggest trading bloc in Thursday’s referendum. – Guardian
MPs investigating the collapse of BHS have called on the wife of Sir Philip Green to shine a light on the family’s complex web of companies. Ratcheting up the pressure on the retail tycoon less than a week after he appeared before a joint committee of MPs, Lady Green has been asked to disclose a detailed list of family businesses. – The Times
Government plans to enact special legislation and change the terms of Tata Steel’s pension scheme have come under fire from the lifeboat scheme, which protects pensions when companies fail. The Pension Protection Fund warned that making specific arrangements in an attempt to save the Port Talbot business and protect 11,000 jobs in the steel industry risked setting a precedent for other pension schemes to push for rule changes. – The Times