Tuesday newspaper round-up: Living wage, China, North Sea
Company bosses face tough new fines and disqualification under plans by David Cameron to force businesses to pay the national living wage. The prime minister says that the new, higher minimum wage, which will reach £9 an hour by the end of the decade, will work only if it is properly enforced. - The Times
Investors have been warned not to “touch China with a barge pole” as a crackdown on people accused of spreading unhelpful market rumours hit the Shanghai market again and led European markets to their worst monthly performance in four years. Hugh Young, the veteran emerging markets guru who manages £30 billion of Asian equities at Aberdeen Asset Management, warned novice investors to steer clear as he predicted that the market turmoil could continue for “at least” a few more weeks. - The Times
The North Sea's biggest gas field discovery in a decade has been approved for production by Britain's oil and gas authority, paving the way for a £3bn investment from Danish giant Maersk that could supply 5pc of UK consumption. The Culzean field is the largest to be approved since East Bray in 1990 and is expected to hold up to the equivalent of 300m barrels of oil, Maersk said on Monday. - The Daily Telegraph
Plans to introduce a national living wage will lead to more job losses than official estimates suggest unless the Chancellor lightens the burden on business, the head of the Confederation of British Industry has warned. John Cridland, director-general of Britain's biggest business lobby group, described George Osborne's proposal in the Summer Budget for a big rise in the minimum wage as the biggest challenge facing UK companies. - The Daily Telegraph
Economic growth in the UK picked up pace in the three months to August, with strong expectations by business for the next quarter, the CBI employers’ body said in a report out today. However, the organisation said Britain faced some risks from the knock-on effect of the slowdown in China and other emerging markets, along with the resulting turbulence in stock markets. - Scotsman
Thousands of British microbusinesses have received demands for payment of VAT – some for millions of euros – from the Irish Revenue. They are the result of new European rules designed to prevent giant corporations from profiting unfairly by basing themselves in lower-VAT regimes. But it is the smallest firms that have become caught up in a complex mess. - The Daily Mail