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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Sizewell plant, Rosebank oilfield, Google.

The government’s plan to fund a multibillion-pound nuclear plant at the Sizewell site in Suffolk represents a “terrible deal” for the UK taxpayer over the rest of the century, according to the government’s spending watchdog. MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC) have warned the government that the cost of the Sizewell C nuclear reactor could spiral to almost £48bn, leaving bill payers on the hook to provide an extra £9.8bn to construct the plant before 2040 and a further £12bn over its 60-year operating life. – Guardian

Source: Sharecast

The giant Rosebank oilfield can be approved without breaching the UK’s emission targets, according to government insiders, in a boost to those in the cabinet who are pushing for it to be given the go-ahead. The Guardian revealed last week that Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, was leaning towards rejecting the project, but her position has put her at loggerheads with cabinet colleagues, including the chancellor, John Healey, who are lobbying for an approval. – Guardian

Google has accused the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of launching an “unlawful” attempt to make it promote rival AI services. The search giant claimed that plans to make it offer consumers a choice of rival AI products such as ChatGPT and Claude, rather than its Gemini AI, was anti-competitive and against its own rules. The CMA launched a consultation on forcing Google to promote rival search engines in January after designating Google with “strategic market status” last October. The consultation was broadened out to include AI in September. – Telegraph

The world’s two biggest payment processing companies face a £5bn claim in a London court for allegedly imposing excessive fees on smaller British retailers. In the latest class action issued in the competition appeals tribunal, Mastercard and Visa are accused of forcing businesses to pay unfair multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) over the past six years. The so-called opt-out class action, in which all businesses affected by the fees are deemed to be claimants unless they actively withdraw, comes about five months after the tribunal approved a £200m settlement in another competition claim against Mastercard. – The Times

Heathrow airport is facing potential legal action from Virgin Atlantic after it announced it was moving some airlines from their existing terminal bases. As part of a plan to free up capacity at Britain’s biggest airport, Heathrow said the airlines China Southern, Latam, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Delta would all have to move terminals. Delta holds a 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic and has a partnership with it, which means they co-ordinate schedules, pricing and routes, flying to more than 130 destinations. But Delta is to be moved from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4, which would separate the airlines, since Terminal 3 acts as the Virgin Atlantic hub. The move is expected to happen over the next two years. – The Times

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