Sunday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Lidl, Doncasters, Jamie Oliver, Arcadia Group, Standard Chartered
By Josh White
Date: Sunday 18 Aug 2019
(Sharecast News) - Britain faces shortages of fuel, food and medicine, a three-month meltdown at its ports, a hard border with Ireland and rising costs in social care in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to an unprecedented leak of government documents that lay bare the gaps in contingency planning. The documents, which set out the most likely aftershocks of a no-deal Brexit rather than worst-case scenarios, have emerged as the UK looks increasingly likely to crash out of the EU without a deal. - The Sunday Times
Downing Street has accused Tory Remainers of "appalling dishonesty" for attempting to use the delay they secured to Brexit to now "cancel the referendum". In an extraordinary attack on Conservative MPs plotting to block an Oct 31 exit, aides to the Prime Minister said voters wanted politicians to "honour their promises" to respect the 2016 poll, and accused some of Boris Johnson's MPs of "playing student politics with Jeremy Corbyn". - Sunday Telegraph
Brexit party politicians appeared on programmes that have hosted conspiracy theorists and promoted the views of prominent figures on the hard right, an analysis has found. Nigel Farage's party, which won the most UK seats in the European elections only months after its launch, is still scoring above 10% in the polls and could prevent prime minister Boris Johnson securing a majority in a snap general election. - Observer
Downing Street has reportedly blamed Philip Hammond's camp for leaking a secret Whitehall dossier warning of the chaos of a no-deal Brexit, that has been dismissed by a government minister as 'scaremongering.' The document filed by the Cabinet Office, called Operation Yellowhammer, shows the areas that could be most vulnerable if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on October 31. - Mail on Sunday
German discounter Lidl has fired the first shot in the battle over who should bear the financial brunt of a no-deal Brexit, indicating to British suppliers that it expects them to pay EU import tariffs for goods delivered to its Irish business. Lidl wrote to suppliers last week asking for confirmation that they would be "delivery duty paid-ready" as the chances rise of the UK leaving the single market bloc without a deal on October 31. - The Sunday Times
The specialist metals engineer Doncasters is in line to be broken up and sold for parts by its hedge fund lenders, as one of Britain's oldest manufacturers crumples under the weight of its debts. The Telegraph reported that a consortium of distressed debt investors is positioned to cash in with a string of asset sales. - Sunday Telegraph
Jeremy Corbyn has issued an urgent plea to MPs to unite to stop no-deal Brexit "before it's too late", amid cross-party demands for an immediate recall of parliament to deal with the crisis. In a show of defiance, a group of more than 100 MPs representing every Westminster party except the DUP has signed a letter stating it is "unacceptable" for parliament to wait until next month to sit again, with the Brexit deadline looming. - Observer
Jamie Oliver has blamed Brexit for the collapse of his restaurant chain that he thought he was 'big and clever enough' to fix. The TV chef believes people stopped eating at restaurants because of uncertainty when Brexit was announced after the 2016 referendum. He said: "The world changed, the high street changed - it started to become Uber-fied - our competitors changed, and we looked less different to them as we did in the beginning." - Mail on Sunday
Sir Philip Green is close to settling legal challenges to a controversial restructuring of Arcadia Group, which would ease the pressure on his ailing Topshop fashion empire. The retail tycoon is nearing out-of-court settlements to challenges brought by Vornado and Caruso, two American landlords hit by the bankruptcy of Topshop USA. - The Sunday Times
Under pressure Standard Chartered is facing a further blow to its reputation as the Treasury prepares to slap it with a £10m fine over sanction breaches. The FTSE 100 bank, which has already been fined over £800m this year following US and UK probes into alleged breaches of sanctions against Iran, has been told to expect the penalty from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) in the coming weeks. - Sunday Telegraph
The BBC has been accused of trying to strong-arm independent TV producers into extending the availability of their shows on the iPlayer from 30 days to one year without paying millions in additional licensing fees. Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, this month gave the green light for the biggest expansion of the BBC iPlayer since its launch in 2007, to enable the corporation to fight back in the streaming war against Netflix and Amazon. - Observer
Speaker John Bercow has held covert talks with MPs who want to stop a no-deal Brexit. Mr Bercow is working with a 'cross-party' group of MPs who are determined not to let the UK crash out of the EU without a deal in place. Only last week he insisted he will fight with 'every breath' to halt any attempts to suspend parliament in the run-up to Brexit. - Mail on Sunday
Thousands of passengers are being sold tickets for flights on Boeing aircraft that are still officially grounded after two crashes took the lives of 346 people. TUI, United Airlines and other airlines have scheduled more than 32,600 flights on 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft for later this year - although regulators have not yet approved their return to the skies. - The Sunday Times
The Isis fighter known as Jihadi Jack has been stripped of his British citizenship, prompting a diplomatic row between the UK and Canada, it has been reported. Muslim convert Jack Letts, 24, who had held dual UK and Canadian citizenship, declared he was an "enemy of Britain" after travelling from Oxfordshire to Syria at the age of 18 to join the terror group. - Sunday Telegraph
Thousands of homes could lose their energy supplier in the coming months as a result of a financial shock looming over the industry's smaller companies. Suppliers are due to pass on millions of pounds' worth of renewable energy subsidies, collected via energy bills, to the energy regulator, Ofgem, by the end of the month. - Observer
National Grid had evidence that the shift to renewable energy was putting Britain's electricity supply at risk months before the biggest blackout in a decade, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The company, which is responsible for keeping the lights on, has downplayed the role of wind energy in the power cut that caused widespread chaos earlier this month. - Mail on Sunday
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