Sunday newspaper round-up: Tax cuts, The Telegraph, Tata Steel

(Sharecast News) - The Prime Minister and his Chancellor are mulling last minute reductions to income taxes or the inheritance tax in a bid to boost economic output, as well as their party's odds at the next elections. The tax cuts would be aimed at low and middle income earners with the impact on inflation to be offset by a decrease on welfare payments or other cuts. Postponing a widely anticipated cut to the inheritance tax is also being looked into, as halving the 40% rate has seen accusations of a hand out to the rich in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis being levied against them. - The Sunday Times RedBird IMI, the investment fund backed by Abu Dhabi, is in line to take over The Telegraph within weeks, a prospect that has prompted concern among Conservative MPs. RedBird would serve as a channel for a £1.2bn loan from Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan that would let the Barclay family repay a debt to Lloyds Banking Group. That loan would then be converted to shares, turning RedBird into The Telegraph's owner. The transaction, which was being studied by Lloyds, would derail the auction process that had attracted hedge fund boss Sir Paul Marshall and Daily Mail publisher DMGT, amongst others. - The Sunday Telegraph

Tata Steel has been told by the heads of its unions that if a blast furnace at Port Talbot is not kept open until 2032 then the company's UK steelmaking will be at risk. Earlier in the month Tata Steel pulled a planned announcement of the closure of both blast furnaces at the last moment. Two of the unions, Community and GMB, presented a proposal to Tata Steel on Friday aimed at averting the job losses and impact on the Port Talbot economy that would ensue if the blast furnaces were closed. - Guardian

Shein, the fast fashion giant, is looking at setting up a new office in Manchester as part of its UK expansion. At first it will hire 15 staff for the new site, which will be on top of the 40 it already has on its books on London. The company's UK sales have boomed, rising to £1.1bn for the 16 months ending in December 2022. - The Financial Mail on Sunday

Apple, IBM and a host of media giants that includes Disney, Paramount, Warner Brothers and Comcast have paused their spending on advertising on social media platform Twitter/X amid allegations that it was rife with antisemitic content. IBM was the first to act, on Thursday, following a report from non-profit outfit Media Matters according to which X was serving ads from those companies next to pro-Nazi content. That triggered a threat of legal action from Elon Musk against Media Matters saying that its evidence had been manipulated. - The Sunday Times