Sunday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Travel industry, IWG

(Sharecast News) - Downing Street's refusal to extend the Brexit transition period is partly based on a concern that the EU will demand "massive" payments to help deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, The Telegraph has been told. A source close to the negotiations said that paying into an increased EU budget was "clearly not in the national interest", adding: "We need to spend money on our own needs in our own way." - Sunday Telegraph

Ministers are preparing a to throw a £4bn lifeline to the travel industry amid widespread public anger over ­unpaid refunds and fears for hundreds of thousands jobs. Under plans being discussed with desperate industry bosses, taxpayers will guarantee refunds to customers whose holiday plans have been ruined by the coronavirus pandemic. Senior industry figures said that the proposals were this weekend being ­finalised by Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, alongside Business Minister Alok Sharma, after Andy ­Cohen, the head of travel industry lifeboat Atol, gave the plans his blessing. - Sunday Telegraph

Flexible office provider IWG is exploring selling and leasing back offices to raise £200m to £250m and ease its coronavirus cash crunch. The company, which owns the Regus and Spaces brands, is planning to sell and then lease back more than 10 UK buildings. Chartered surveyor Doherty Baines is said to be advising IWG. Small business tenants of Regus, led by chief executive Mark Dixon, have criticised the company for trying to tie them into longer leases in exchange for temporary rent reductions on offices they cannot use. Dixon said he was making them a fair offer. - Sunday Times

Pressure was mounting this weekend on chancellor Rishi Sunak to offer 100% government-backed loans as part of the Covid-19 business lifeboat scheme to prevent thousands of small and medium-sized firms from going bust. Business groups said commercial lenders, which must currently cover 20% of loan losses under the Cbils government scheme, were turning down requests to borrow rescue funds that could allow firms to remain solvent through the coronavirus lockdown. - Guardian

Senior ministers have drawn up a three-phase plan to lift the coronavirus lockdown that would see schools reopen as early as May 11. Under "traffic light" proposals to be presented to Boris Johnson when he returns to work, schools would reopen in three weeks' time, with pupils of different age groups taught for only part of the week or every other week to aid social distancing. - Sunday Times

More than half of the jobs in some sectors of the UK economy are at risk if the lockdown continues for an extended period, a new study suggests. Estimates produced by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex suggest the lockdown threatens to temporarily take at least 6.5 million jobs out of the economy - around a fifth of the national total. - Guardian

Supermarket giant Waitrose has thrown down the gauntlet to rival Marks & Spencer with a sudden 50 per cent surge at its online delivery service - five months before the pair embark on an historic battle for shoppers. Waitrose bosses revealed for the first time the furious behind-the-scenes work the company is doing to ramp up its online business. Ben Stimson, the 48-year-old executive in charge of Waitrose. com, told The Mail on Sunday its response to the coronavirus lockdown has been so rapid that the £6.4 billion chain is now processing almost 100,000 orders a week. - Mail on Sunday

EasyJet's chairman has accused founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou of a "destructive" attack on the budget airline at the worst possible time. Haji-Ioannou has waged a long campaign against the airline's order for 107 Airbus jets, signed in 2013 and costing an estimated £4.5bn. He has stepped up his fight by calling a vote to oust four directors, including chairman John Barton, chief executive Johan Lundgren and finance director Andrew Findlay. Haji-Ioannou, who founded easyJet in 1995 and controls 34% of its shares, says the vote is a "proxy for cancelling the Airbus contract". - Sunday Times