Friday newspaper round-up: Tax rises, electricity pylons, TalkTalk

(Sharecast News) - The chancellor and prime minister will begin to prepare the ground for tax rises and reforms from September as part of a strategy to prepare the country for a difficult budget that could be held in November, the Guardian has been told. Although Treasury sources have insisted Rachel Reeves will stick to her pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, senior Whitehall sources said that she and Keir Starmer had begun a series of meetings to thrash out the shape of the budget. - Guardian The government is pushing head with a plan to offer those who live near new electricity pylons a discount of £2,500 from their energy bills over the next 10 years to ease the backlash against its clean power plans. Thousands of households within half a kilometre of new or upgraded electricity infrastructure could each receive up to £250 off their annual energy bill from next year to help speed up the rollout of infrastructure critical to the government's targets. - Guardian

A German offshore wind auction has received no bids after developers baulked at the low subsidies, just as Ed Miliband prepares to offer lucrative taxpayer support in Britain to avoid a similar flop. The Federal Network Agency offered up plots in two areas of the North Sea, which authorities were hoping could host wind farms that would have opened in the early 2030s. - Telegraph

TalkTalk has revealed losses of nearly £500m after Sir Charles Dunstone, its founder, was forced to call in its second bailout in a year. The troubled broadband provider said in newly published accounts that there was "material uncertainty" about its liquidity and ability to comply with debt covenants ahead of receiving a £100m lifeline last month. - Telegraph

President Trump has demanded the immediate resignation of Lip-Bu Tan, the head of Intel, over concerns about his extensive investments in Chinese firms, just four months after he took charge of the struggling chipmaker. "The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately," Trump posted on Truth Social, his media platform, on Thursday. "There is no other solution to this problem." - The Times