Monday newspaper round-up: Gatwick airport, Vodafone franchisees, US tariffs
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Monday 22 Sep 2025
(Sharecast News) - Gatwick airport's £2.2bn second runway plan has been given the go-ahead by the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander. With the privately financed project, the West Sussex hub is aiming to increase its capacity by 100,000 flights a year. Gatwick will move its emergency runway 12 metres north, enabling it to be used for departures of narrow-bodied planes such as Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s. - Guardian
Vodafone franchisees warned the telecoms group of the "massive impact" commission cuts were having on their mental health four years before a group of 62 launched a £120m high court claim against the company, it has emerged. Franchisees of the high street chain said they were feeling stressed and had suffered from "anxiety" as a result of the decision to cut fees, in research that also indicated they had little trust in Vodafone's word. - Guardian
Britain is battling a glut of empty lab space after a string of pharmaceutical companies pulled investment from the country. The vacancy rate across life sciences buildings has more than doubled to a record high of 9.9pc over the past year, according to new figures from property analytics firm CoStar. - Telegraph
An Irish entrepreneur has unveiled plans to build a vast new gas storage site in the eastern Irish Sea to help protect Britain from the threat of blackouts. Tony O'Reilly Jr, son of the former billionaire boss of Heinz, said the proposed facility would provide an "insurance policy" as the national electricity system becomes more dependent on intermittent renewables. - Telegraph
The fallout from the car loans mis-selling scandal has intensified after the British motor finance business of BMW revealed it had set aside more than £200 million to cover its potential compensation bill. The disclosure by the German carmaker comes as banks and other providers of motor finance brace for the Financial Conduct Authority, which is the City regulator, to set out the details of its plan for an industry-wide redress scheme that could cost firms as much as £18 billion. Millions of drivers are expected to receive payouts from lenders worth hundreds of pounds each. - The Times
American buyers of British exports have paid $1.36 billion in tariffs in the four months since President Trump's "liberation day" shock, six times more than in the corresponding period of 2024 and more than for several rival European exporting nations, including France and Spain. Estimates from the US International Trade Commission reveal the scale of the hit to British manufacturers and suggest Britain is being heavily penalised in spite of concessions won by the British government. - The Times
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