PRESS DIGEST-British Business - December 2

Dec 2 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The Times

- HICL Infrastructure HICL.L and Trig TRIG.L said on Monday that they had abandoned plans for a merger of 5.3 billion pounds ($7.00 billion) that would have created Britain's largest infrastructure investment trust.

- BP BP.L has scrapped multibillion-pound plans to produce low-carbon hydrogen on Teesside in north-east England after clashing with a rival project to build a vast data centre at the former Redcar steelworks site.

The Guardian

- The UK has agreed to pay 25% more for new medicines by 2035 as part of a US-UK drug pricing deal that will cost an estimated additional 3 billion pound ($3.96 billion)a year.

- The UK government has pulled a $1.15 billion package of support to a giant gas project in Mozambique that has been accused of fuelling the climate crisis and deadly terror attacks in the region.

The Telegraph

- Rental company Zipcar would pull out of Britain by the end of the year amid a new charge for electric vehicles driving into London's congestion zone as a well rising electricity costs.

-The UK's largest oil and gas producer Harbour Energy has announced plans to axe 100 North Sea jobs as a direct result of British finance minister Rachel Reeves's Budget.

Sky News

- The chairman of Britain's fiscal watchdog Richard Hughes has resigned after an investigation into the leak of last week's budget criticised the watchdog's leadership.

- O2, Vodafone VOD.L, EE and Three are facing a huge class action lawsuit of 1.1 billion pound in UK over claims millions of loyal customers have been overcharged.

The Independent

- Ofcom has imposed a substantial 23.8 million pounds ($31.44 million)fine on Virgin Media, citing the company's failure to protect thousands of vulnerable customers during their transition to digital landline services.

($1 = 0.7571 pounds)

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)

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