UK Brexit minister Stephen Barclay has insisted that Tuesday's crunch vote on Theresa May's compromise Brexit deal would go ahead. This follows media reports that Mrs May might delay the vote in the House of Commons in order to seek further concessions at an EUsummit in Brussels on Thursday
The Sunday Times suggested ministers and aides had convinced the prime minster that she needs to emulate Margaret Thatcher's budget showdownwith EU bosses in 1984 if she is to have any chance of persuading her own MPS to support her.
However, speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Barclay said that if Theresa May loses the vote, she can still stay on as prime minister. He said the Norway-style deal with the EU would respect the result of the 2016 Brexit campaign. "The vote is going ahead," he said. "That's because it is a good deal, it's the only deal and it's important we don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."
The Sunday Telegraph, meanwhile, suggest Mrs May's regime was disintergrating ahead of the most important vote in a generation with two members of the UK government resigning and a cabinet member considering their position.
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, a leading Brexit campaigner who is seen as a possible successor to May, said MPs on all sides were united against the so-called Irish backstop - an insurance policy designed to prevent a hard Border on the island of Ireland - and losing the vote in parliament would give Mrs May a mandate to ask the EU to remove it from the deal. "Nothing is over until it is over," he told the BBC.
The Telegraph also reported that foreign investors are preparing legal counter-measures to prevent their assets being nationalised in the event of a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn emerging from the current crisis.
Uber confirms that it will float next year
Ride-hailing start-up has filed confidential papers for one of the most widely anticipated initial public offerings on the stock market, the Sunday Telegraph also reports. Uber filed paperwork to US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday for a flotation that has long been expected to debut in 2019. Uber's acceleration of the process comes after US ride-hailing rival Lyft also announced on Thursday that it had filed for an IPO.
O2 to bill Ericsson over network failure
O2 is preparing to issue its technology supplier Ericsson with a bill for tens of millions of pounds after the disastrous software failure that cut customers off from the internet, according to the Sunday Telegrpah. The failures was caused by the expiry of software licence certificates and led to huge disruption to Britain's biggest mobile operator.
Sole bidder posied to land DAA hotel deal
The operator of Dublin airport, DAA, has entered exclusive talks with UK group Arora Hotels for a planned 400-bed hotel at the airport's Terminal 2, the Sunday Times reports. It says the project saw no other bidder left in the tender process.
Dun Laoghaire innovation centre
Former Topaz chief executive Emmet O’Neill has emerged as a potential investor in the stalled plan to launch an innovation centre in the old ferry terminal in Dun Laoghaire. The Sunday Business Post reports that O’Neill has written to councillors saying he “watched with interest and displeasure” as the inital plan set out by investor Philip Gannon came unstuck.
AIB consider monthly subscription model
AIB is “closely” considering a new monthly subscription model for its online services, replacing the current bank fee system. It’s one of several changes being considered by the bank as it seeks to fend off new fintech rivals, reports the Sunday Independent.
