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Theresa May has led a fierce onslaught by Tory ex-cabinet ministers against a housing shake-up proposed by Boris Johnson, which could lead to some building going ahead without planning permission.
Backed by her former cabinet allies Damian Green, Jeremy Hunt and Chris Grayling – and several more ex-ministers – the former prime minister demanded a rethink on the government’s proposals for reform of the planning system.

The backlash came during a House of Commons debate in which Conservative MPs bitterly attacked the reforms, described by Mr Johnson as part of his plans to “build, build, build” the UK out of the coronavirus crisis.

Image: Boris Johnson has vowed to ‘transform the sclerotic planning system’
It was Mrs May’s second major revolt against government policy in less than three weeks, after she accused her successor of “acting recklessly and irresponsibly” by breaking international law with his UK Internal Market Bill.
Earlier this week, defending his planning shake-up in his party conference speech, Mr Johnson declared: “We will transform the sclerotic planning system.

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“We will make it faster and easier to build beautiful new homes without destroying the green belt or desecrating the countryside.”

But Mrs May, MP for the commuter town of Maidenhead in Berkshire, told the Commons that the prime minister’s proposals were contrary to the government’s “levelling up” agenda, and she called on ministers to think again.

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“The problem with these proposals, the problem with this algorithm on housing numbers, is that it doesn’t guarantee a single extra home being built and far from levelling up, it forces more investment into London and the South,” she said.
“This is a mechanistic approach and it is ill-conceived. We need to make sure that the planning system sees the right number of homes being built in the right places.
“But we won’t do that by removing local democracy, cutting the number of affordable homes that will be built and building over rural areas – yet that is exactly what these reforms will lead to.
“And we do need to build more homes, but we won’t do that by forcing local authorities to grant more planning permissions to developers so that they can build more homes to bring the price down, because developers simply won’t do it.
“The government does need to think again on this and it needs to understand the impact that the proposals it’s put forward are going to have.”

Image: Damian Green warned the government is in ‘danger of turning the Garden of England into a patio’
Mrs May also attacked the algorithm at the heart of the government’s proposed planning reforms.
“What this algorithm does is build up planning permissions, it doesn’t build houses,” she said.
In a reference to the government’s handling of A-level results this summer, Mrs May also quipped: “I would have thought the government might have abandoned algorithms by now.”
The former PM called for the government to return with a “comprehensive proposal” for MPs ahead of a “proper debate” on planning reforms and – in a nod to her Brexit travails of last year – she added: “And, dare I say it, a meaningful vote.”
Responding to the protests of Tory MPs at the end of the debate, housing minister Chris Pincher said the government would carefully consider their concerns.
He added: “I am especially mindful that MPs are concerned about geographic imbalance – concerns about too many homes in the South and not enough in the Midlands and the North.
“Equally, I recognise anxieties about what these changes might mean for our countryside in contrast to our urban areas.
“I want to reassure the House that through this consultation process we are committed to addressing any supposed imbalances.
“I recognise that our future is not just about what we build, but where we build it.”

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Earlier, Mr Hunt, MP for the affluent constituency of South West Surrey, said he had “grave reservations” over the government’s plans and warned of risks to the English countryside.
“We lose that at our peril,” he said.
Mr Green, MP for the commuter hotspot of Ashford in Kent, told MPs: “We are in danger of turning the Garden of England into a patio.”
He told housing minister Chris Pincher: “Can I just gently say to the minister that algorithms are a tool for mathematicians, not politicians.”
Mr Green added: “This won’t be levelling up, it will be levelling over green fields with concrete.”
Mr Grayling, MP for another affluent commuter constituency, Epsom and Ewell, told MPs the housing algorithm was “completely inconsistent” with the promises the Tories made at last year’s general election.
“In its current form I regret to say, even as a loyal supporter of the government, I cannot support this,” he said.

More than 1,000 consultants from Deloitte are now working on Test and Trace, according to newly released documents that underline the scale of the government’s reliance on the private sector.
According to documents released by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) under Freedom of Information rules, there are currently 1,114 consultants from the firm who are working on the scheme.

In pure headcount terms, this is about the size of a small UK government department.

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Will the missing COVID cases have an impact?

The news is the latest evidence of the growing cost of Britain’s testing system, which is already budgeted at about £12bn – equivalent to the cost of four aircraft carriers.
Deloitte, which has both accounting and management consultancy arms, charges anything up to £2,360 a day for each of its consultants.

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According to its most recent accounts its equity partners shared an average payout of £882,000 last year.

It has been engaged on the creation and management of the testing system, including everything from the online portal for those seeking tests to the creation of test centres around the country, although it is only one of a number of private sector firms involving what is known as Pillar 2 – the centralised private sector arm of Britain’s COVID-19 testing operation.

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The documents released by DHSC show, however, that Deloitte vastly outnumber the other management consultants hired by the government to help run Test and Trace.
The government is also employing consultants from McKinsey, BCG, PWC, KPMG and EY – however their combined numbers total 144.

Image: Deloitte charges anything up to £2,360 a day for each of its consultants
Although the government has not disclosed how much these consultants are being paid, on the basis of Deloitte’s charge sheet, and presuming those consultants have been working since April, the cost could run as high as £200m to £300m.
The wider testing system has faced numerous controversies in recent months, including problems with shortages of tests and, more recently, a data error at Public Health England which involved the temporary loss of 16,000 test results from national databases, meaning thousands of people exposed to the disease were not tracked down in a timely manner.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We continue to work with a wide range of public and private sector partners as we respond to this unprecedented global pandemic.
“These organisations provide the specialist skills and experience we need to contain the spread of the virus and save lives.”
Tamzen Isacsson, chief executive of the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), said that outsourcing had “enabled the government to work quickly and with intensity on major initiatives”.
She added: “It has been our industry’s priority to strengthen the response and processes of clients and provide value for money.
“Consultants have been proud to support government during these challenging times.”
Sky has contacted Deloitte for a comment.

COVID-19 has produced some very clear winners and losers in the corporate world.
Food retailers have emerged from the pandemic with greater respect from customers for the way their supply chains have held up – while their employees are striding out with a greater sense of purpose after the value of what they do has been more widely appreciated.

Manufacturers and distributors of personal protection equipment have also been applauded for the way they have stepped up availability of their product while healthcare companies have won respect for the way they have rapidly sought to develop a vaccine for coronavirus.

Image: The company reported COVID-related changes in consumer behaviour
On the downside, due to the social distancing protocols introduced around the world, companies in the leisure, entertainment, hospitality and aviation sectors are fighting for their lives.
Today another sector can be added to the group of winners – tobacco.

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Anecdotal evidence from around the world has been that, as stress levels have increased due to lockdown, smokers have been partaking more in the habit.

Today, one of the world’s biggest players in the sector provided hard details, reporting an increase in tobacco consumption.

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Imperial Brands, the UK’s market leader in cigarettes and owner of brands such as Lambert & Butler, Richmond and John Player Special, said its tobacco business had continued to perform well despite an uncertain trading environment.

Tracking the UK economy’s recovery from lockdown

It added: “We have experienced some COVID-related changes in consumer behaviour with increased overall demand against our expectations, as consumers appear to have allocated more of their spend to tobacco, as well as some demand shifts between different markets and channels.
“This has resulted in better than expected volumes, driven by improved volume trends in several key European markets and in the US.
“These positive trends have helped to offset relatively weaker market volumes in the duty-free channel and in some traditional summer tourist destinations, where reduced travel has impacted demand.
“Overall, we expect tobacco net revenue to increase by around 1% at constant currency.”
The news comes after many years during which Bristol-based Imps – whose other brands include Golden Virginia rolling tobacco and Rizla cigarette paper – and its established competitors have seen a slow, gradual drop in tobacco consumption in established markets such as Europe and the US.
It backs anecdotal evidence from a number of countries – including the US, Ireland, Poland, Australia and Singapore – that stress related to the pandemic has led to an increase in smoking.
Some local authorities in the UK, such as Kent County Council, have also noted an increase in smoking.
Action on Smoking & Health (ASH), the anti-smoking charity, has also flagged its concern that local authorities may be spending less on programmes aimed at helping smokers kick the habit.
Yet it may not be as straightforward a situation as the Imps update implies.

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Lockdown weighs on families and businesses

British American Tobacco, the world’s second-biggest tobacco company, said in June that its sales in some emerging markets had been hit by the pandemic as strict lockdowns affected the ability of some smokers to get out to the shops.
And all the major tobacco companies have been hit by the decline in international air travel and the accompanying drop off in sales of their products at duty-free outlets.
Meanwhile, because Imperial’s product portfolio contains more “economy” brands such as Regal and Lambert & Butler, it may have benefited from any so-called down-trading by consumers from premium to cheaper brands if they are worried about their income.
This is something currently being hotly debated in the industry.
BAT has insisted that it has seen little evidence of down-trading to date but Imps has said for some months now that the phenomenon is clearly happening in markets such as Australia.
One theory is that, with consumers smoking on their own at home rather than with friends on an evening out, they are less particular about the brand that they are seen to be smoking.
William Ryder, equity analyst at the stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Imperial expects to grow full-year tobacco revenue, which would actually be a minor achievement considering the weakness in duty-free sales following the collapse of international travel.
“Its lower-price products seem to be appealing to consumers during the pandemic.
“The group may be benefitting from its lower exposure to premium products, but management also indicates that smokers have simply been spending more on their habit.”

Image: Imperial said trading in “next generation products” had been disappointing
Not that the pandemic has been all good news for Imps.
The company has spent much money and time during recent years trying to build a position in “next-generation products”, chiefly Blu, its vaping product and Pulze, its heated tobacco product.
But it admitted today that recent trading in these products, thanks partly to a “significant” reduction in investment, had been “disappointing”.
It said net revenues from nextgeneration products would be down by “around 30%” on last year.
Some of this may be partly due to the Trump administration’s declaration of war on vaping a year ago but, given the strength that the likes of BAT have seen in these product categories, it may be more specific to Imps.
Recognising this, the new chief executive Stefan Bomhard – who joined the company three months ago from the international motor dealer Inchcape – has turned to an industry outsider to pep up performance.
Murray McGowan, who has been appointed group strategy and transformation director, is a former consultant at McKinsey and was until 2017 the UK managing director of Costa Coffee.
He was one of a trio of new hires announced today.

Image: Donald Trump’s administration declared war on vaping
Alicia Forry, of broker Investec, said: “It is encouraging to see that Mr Bomhard has brought in external talent to the executive committee.
“The new strategy and transformation director, Murray McGowan, the new chief people and culture officer, Alison Clarke, and the new manufacturing and supply chain director, Javier Huerta, have all come from well-known companies outside of tobacco.
“It is a positive sign that Mr Bomhard is able to attract solid talent into Imperial Brands.”
The bigger questions for investors are these.
Firstly, whether Imps can maintain the momentum in its traditional tobacco products as economies return to normality after COVID and secondly, whether it will be able to turn around its lacklustre performance in next generation products.
The share price, down 27% since the beginning of the year, tells you there is a fair bit of scepticism.

The owner of The Scotsman has received takeover offers from the rival newspaper publisher Archant and a veteran media executive as a long-awaited industry consolidation enters a new phase.
Sky News has learnt that Archant and a consortium comprising the former Mirror boss David Montgomery and turnaround investor Endless tabled bids for JPIMedia ahead of a deadline this week.

The offers pave the way for a change of ownership for some of Britain’s best-known local newspapers, including the Yorkshire Post.
Norwich-based Archant, which publishes the Eastern Daily Press, recently agreed a rescue deal with Rcapital, and is seen by analysts as the likeliest buyer of JPIMedia because of the potential cost savings that a merger would generate.
Mr Montgomery created a listed vehicle called National World to acquire media assets, but lost out in the Archant auction.

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Other newspaper industry players such as Reach – formerly known as Trinity Mirror – are not participating in the auction.

JPIMedia employs close to 2000 people across the UK and publishes scores of titles, many of which have switched to digital-only editions in recent years.

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Since late 2018, the company has been owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors including Goldentree Asset Management, CarVal and Fidelity, when the then Johnston Press collapsed into administration.
The insolvency process which led to the creation of JPIMedia involved writing off £135m debt, leaving it with £85m of borrowings.
Its new owners also injected £35m of new capital into the company to put it on a more sustainable footing.
A voluntary redundancy programme and overhaul of the company’s property portfolio have since been implemented by the company’s new owners.
Last November, the Daily Mail’s publisher bought the national newspaper i from JPIMedia for almost £50m.
The prospects for Britain’s regional newspaper publishers have appeared bleak for years, with declining advertising revenues and the impact of Google and Facebook’s online presence in news exerting a stark toll on traditional local outlets.
Reach, the UK’s biggest regional publisher as well as the owner of The Daily Mirror and Daily Express, recently announced hundreds of job cuts.
GCA Altium, the investment bank, is overseeing the auction.
None of those involved in the process would comment.

Investment in new technology by tools rental firm HSS Hire will see 300 jobs cut and dozens of branches closed up and down the country.
The company said the COVID-19 outbreak accelerated investment in its digital platforms, cutting out the need for many of its physical sites.

HSS Hire, which currently employs around 2,000 people in the UK, said it will close 134 of its branches and begin redundancy consultations on 300 jobs.
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The Manchester headquartered firm took a major hit to its finances as many building sites closed across the country during the nationwide lockdown earlier this year.

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The company, which makes most of its money by renting tools to business customers, lost £12.5m in the first half of the year and saw revenues fall by 22% to £125.8m.

Steve Ashmore, who’s been chief executive since 2017, said the transformation at the company has now brought profitability back to pre-pandemic levels.

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He said: “While our strategic ambitions remain unchanged, COVID-19 has demonstrated that we are now ready to accelerate our strategy by further investing in our technological platforms.

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“These investments will allow us to reduce our physical footprint which, whilst regrettably resulting in the loss of around 300 roles, allows us to become a more agile, technology-driven business which is essential in our markets as well as reducing costs and enhancing shareholder value.”
The 63-year-old company launched its mobile application last year after seeing a shift in consumer behaviour towards ordering online rather than in-store.
The London-listed company said it signed 30% of new contracts through its digital platforms, a jump from 10% before the pandemic. The app alone saw a 33% increase in customers, according to the company.
Consequently, the company says it can now attract customers throughout the country without an increase in fixed costs for physical sites.
HSS says its total sales have risen to more than 90% of its pre-pandemic levels despite 145 out of 230 branches remaining shut.

Image: Shares in the company rose by more than 4% today but remain down by 45% for the year
The pandemic has prompted businesses across the economy to embrace technology to survive.
Research by New Street Consulting Group showed 48% of FTSE100 companies worried about the failure to go fully digital as a key risk to their futures.
Separately, another report by the consultancy PwC showed that around 25% of the jobs in the construction sector could be lost to technology and automation by the mid 2030s.

Low-cost carrier easyJet said it expects a £845m loss this year due to the pandemic in what will mark the first full-year loss in its history.
The company painted a bleak outlook as it forecast a significant drop in capacity for 2021 and called on the Government to help the embattled aviation sector.

Sky News earlier revealed that easyJet had signalled to the government that it may need further financial support if the coronavirus pandemic continues to hinder its schedule.
In April, the airline took a £600m loan through the Bank of England’s Coronavirus Corporate Financing Facility. It has also raised £400m from shareholders and hundreds of millions of pounds more by selling and leasing back part of its fleet.
Chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “At the beginning of this year, no one could have imagined the impact the pandemic has had on the industry.

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“Aviation continues to face the most severe threat in its history and the UK Government urgently needs to step up with a bespoke package of measures to ensure airlines are able to support economic recovery when it comes.

“easyJet came into this crisis in a very strong position thanks to its strong balance sheet and consistent profitability. This year will be the first time in its history that easyJet has ever made a full year loss.

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The airline said it will only need 25% of its planned capacity for the first quarter next year due to the travel restrictions in place throughout Europe. More than 65% of routes within the EU had restrictions at the of September, according to the investment bank UBS.
The company said passenger numbers had fallen by 50% to 48 million for 2020.

Britain’s biggest airports group has announced plans to cut 900 jobs – as ministers launch a taskforce on COVID-19 testing to try to revive travel.
Manchester Airports Group (MAG) – which owns hubs at Manchester, Stansted and the East Midlands – said a continuing slump in demand as the furlough scheme ends, and a lack of progress on testing, had prompted it to act.

MAG said it was proposing to cut 465 jobs at Manchester, 376 at Stansted and 51 at East Midlands. Other employment changes will also be made, including to shift patterns.

Where jobs are being lost in the UK economy

The announcement came as the Department for Transport said a new taskforce would work with the industry to try to reduce 14-day quarantine times for travellers through the use of testing.
But there was no timeframe for a testing regime to be introduced, prompting a lukewarm response from Virgin Atlantic – another business badly hit by the pandemic – which welcomed the move but warned that “every day counts” as 500,000 aviation jobs are at stake.

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MAG said prospects for a revival in demand – down 90% since March – were fading amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases across the UK and Europe, and a full recovery in passengers was not expected until 2023-24.

“Meanwhile, the absence of dedicated support for the aviation sector, coupled with a lack of progress in introducing testing for UK passengers to date, has continued to undermine consumer confidence in air travel for next year,” the group said.

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The company said it had made “extensive use” of the government’s job retention scheme which has subsidised wages for workers temporarily laid off during the pandemic, as well as cutting all salaries by 10% and freezing spending plans.

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Airport tests give ‘false sense of security’

But the furlough subsidy is being replaced by a jobs support scheme, offering a “much smaller contribution to meeting payroll costs” for six months from the start of November, it said.
“The reduction in government financial support, combined with a more challenging outlook, means that MAG now needs to propose further steps to reduce the size of its workforce to secure the long-term future of the business,” the company said in a statement.
Chief executive Charlie Cornish said: “By now, we would have hoped to see a strong and sustained recovery in demand.
“Unfortunately, the resurgence of the virus across Europe and the reintroduction of travel restrictions have meant this has not happened.
“With uncertainty about when a vaccine will be widely available, we need to be realistic about when demand is likely to recover.”
Lawrence Chapple-Gill from the Unite trade union said: “These job losses are an inevitable consequence of the government’s failure to provide sector specific support to the aviation industry, the sector which has been most heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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Heathrow chief exec: PM needs to ‘get a grip’

Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, called for a sector-specific furlough scheme and said industries like aviation had been “left high and dry”.
The aviation industry has been pushing since the summer for the government to “get a grip” and introduce a testing regime to try to shorten the two-week quarantine period for passengers arriving from countries not on the UK’s safe list.
Launching the government’s coronavirus testing taskforce, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “The current measures at the border have saved lives.
“Our understanding of the science now means we can intensify efforts to develop options for a testing regime and help reinvigorate our world-leading travel sector.”

Tracking the UK’s recovery from lockdown

The DfT said the taskforce would look at the feasibility of “proposals based on a single test taken after a period of self-isolation, provided by the private sector and at the cost of the passenger”.
The chief executives of Heathrow Airport, Manchester Airports Group, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic said in a joint statement that it was a “step in the right direction… to restart the economy and protect thousands of jobs”.
They added: “We support the decision to opt for a single test, private sector-led, passenger-funded approach, that does not impact on the NHS in any way.
“But travellers need a firm commitment that a comprehensive testing regime will be implemented in early November.”
The International Air Transport Association, an industry body, said: “The proposals on the table do not go as far as we had hoped.
“A reduction in the length of quarantine is the very minimum needed to restart travel demand.”

Parliament’s Defence Committee says there is “clear evidence of collusion” between Huawei and the Chinese state in a new report on 5G security.
It cites claims which have previously been made about Huawei’s ownership model and receipt of state subsidies, but does not include new evidence.

In response a Huawei spokesperson said: “This report lacks credibility, as it is built on opinion rather than fact.
“We’re sure people will see through these accusations of collusion and remember instead what Huawei has delivered for Britain over the past 20 years,” they added.

Huawei: The company and the security risks explained

Tobias Ellwood MP, the chair of the defence committee, unveiled the report stating: “Protecting the public and preserving our nation’s security are amongst the principle responsibilities of government.

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“The decision to embed a technology that compromises this would constitute a gross dereliction of these duties,” Mr Ellwood added, before stating: “The West must urgently unite to advance a counterweight to China’s tech dominance.”

Among the committee’s recommendations are proposals to form “a D10 alliance of democracies to provide alternatives to Chinese technology”.

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The committee also warned that current regulations were “porous” and that “legislation lacks teeth, continuing to allow telecoms companies to prioritise profit over the public and the nation’s security”.
It described as “imperative” the enacting of the Telecoms Security Bill, which will make the prohibition on purchasing new Huawei equipment from the end of this year a legal obligation.

Image: Huawei’s networking kit is set to be banned by the end of this year
The report follows the government ordering that all Huawei equipment must be stripped out of the UK’s telecommunication networks by 2027, as a result of US trade restrictions.
Mobile network operators will also be banned from purchasing new Huawei equipment by the end of this year. This ban impacts networking equipment and not consumer devices such as Huawei’s phones and laptops.
During the witness hearings for the committee’s inquiry, the culture secretary said that the government was aware “large private companies in China often have links to the Chinese Communist Party, and this was one of the factors that led to Huawei being designated as a high-risk vendor”.
Guidance issued by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre states that Huawei “has always been considered higher risk by the UK government”. Reasons include China’s National Intelligence Law which could compel the company’s employees to “act in a way that is harmful to the UK”.
New American restrictions on Huawei will prohibit US firms from providing computer chips to the company.
These sanctions have been criticised as “arbitrary and pernicious” by Huawei, which has confirmed that 40% of the roles within its enterprise business group in the UK are being made redundant as a result.

They do takeovers differently in France.
Hostile takeover bids are a rarity in the country: there have been just a handful during the last decade and the last successful one, a €2.5bn (£2.2bn) swoop by the commercial property company Gecina for its domestic rival Eurosic, was as long ago as 2016.

The last big headline-grabbing hostile bid, an €8.3bn (£7.5bn) tilt by the insurer Covea for its rival Scor, was abandoned at the beginning of last year.

Image: The French PM described yoghurt maker Danone as a ‘crown jewel’
For the establishment in France, hostile bids are “un-French” – an ugly feature of vulgar Anglo-Saxon capitalism.
Trades unions and politicians are both adept at campaigning against takeovers.

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Famous examples include when, in 2004, the Chirac government encouraged the French drug-makers Sanofi and Aventis to merge when the latter was threatened by a possible takeover by Swiss rival Novartis.

A year later, it threatened to block an attempted takeover of the food and drink company Danone, with Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister at the time, describing the business – best known for its yoghurt – as a national “crown jewel”.

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The would-be buyer, PepsiCo, walked away and it was subsequently reported that Danone was on a list of 10 French companies – others included the supermarket operator Carrefour and the bank Societe Generale – that Mr de Villepin intended to keep French.
The following year, 2006, the government passed a law aimed at strengthening the ability of French companies to withstand takeover approaches following a successful takeover of the Luxembourg-based steelmaker Arcelor, which at the time employed thousands of workers in France, by the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

Image: Veolia supplies water and sewerage services
In short, takeovers – especially hostile ones – are frowned on in France.
All of which helps explain why the business world is agog at a battle currently raging between two giant French utilities, Veolia and Suez, which together employ more than 250,000 people worldwide.
The saga began when, at the end of August, Veolia offered to buy a 29.9% stake in Suez.
That stake was owned by Engie, the company formerly known as Gaz de France, which merged with the original Suez in 2006 in a government-engineered deal aimed at seeing off a bid for the latter by Enel of Italy.
That deal was all about creating a French national champion in the field of power generation and the company’s waste and water assets, handed back the Suez name, were subsequently demerged – with Engie retaining a stake.
After a bit of back and forth, during which Veolia was obliged to sweeten its offer and a rival bidder for the stake walked away, Engie agreed on Tuesday this week to sell to Veolia for €3.4bn (£3.1bn).
The sale, valuing the whole of Suez at €11.2bn (£10.1bn), paves the way for a full-blown takeover.
In agreeing to buy the stake from Engie, Veolia promised it would not launch a hostile bid for Suez, insisting it would be seeking approval from the latter’s board.

Image: Engie has agreed to sell its stake in Suez to Veolia
It also promised to cut no jobs in France.
Arguably, it had little choice in this, as Engie is in turn 24% owned by the French government.
Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, had made clear he wanted to see a “friendly” combination between the two companies.
He told French radio: “Forced marriages do not work.
“An industrial operation of this calibre cannot operate without an agreement between the two sides.”
Suez, naturally enough, is screaming blue murder.
Its board published a letter on Tuesday in which it said: “Suez takes note of the purchase by Veolia of 29.9% of its capital in a hostile manner and under unprecedented and irregular conditions.
“The group…will use all the means at its disposal to protect the interests of its employees, its customers and all its stakeholders, in particular to ensure equal and fair treatment of all its shareholders and avoid a creeping takeover or de facto control.”

Image: Finance minister Bruno Le Maire says he wants to see a friendly combination between the companies
What may surprise many onlookers, particularly in Britain, is the sheer size of these companies.
In the UK, the sector is fragmented, with the vast majority of British households and businesses supplied by one of the 10 combined water and sewerage companies – such as Thames, Yorkshire, Severn Trent and Anglian – that were privatised more than 30 years ago.
In France, the market is more concentrated, with most homes and businesses supplied with water and sewerage services by one of three companies – Veolia, Suez and Saur.
Veolia and Suez respectively have stock market valuations of €10.5bn (£9.4bn) and €10.1bn (£9.1bn).
By contrast United Utilities and Severn Trent, the biggest of the quoted UK water and sewerage companies, are respectively valued at just £6bn apiece although Thames would arguably attract a price tag more comparable to the French giants were it ever return to the market.
So what happens next?
The Suez board, led by chairman Philippe Varin – who is best-known in Britain as a former chief executive of the steelmaker Corus – and chief executive Bertrand Camus, has a few cards to play.
The unions staged a walkout this week to show their opposition to a takeover.

Image: Suez chairman Philippe Varin faces an uphill struggle
Mr Varin has also, craftily, put Suez’s French water assets into the ownership of a Dutch foundation – making them harder to buy.
However, in order to see off the threat of a monopolies investigation, Veolia has already committed to sell these assets.
It is more interested in the other activities of Suez, which provides water to a number of cities around the world, including Algiers, Jeddah, Barcelona and New Delhi.
Its activities in the UK, where it employs more than 5,000 people, include providing water and waste management services for companies in a number of key industries and running street cleaning, recycling and refuse collection services for local authorities from South Tyne and Wear to Cornwall.
So Mr Varin and his colleagues face an uphill struggle.

Image: French PM Jean Castex has said a tie-up makes sense
For a start, the Suez share price remains at €15.99, a discount to the €18-a-share Veolia paid Engie for its stake and which it says it will be prepared to pay other shareholders for full control.
Secondly, despite its insistence that a tie-up must be friendly, the French government – keen to see more national champions being created – has indicated it would support a combination.
Jean Castex, the French prime minister, has even said that a combination of Veolia and Suez “makes sense”.
Mr Varin knows he has a problem here, as acknowledged in an interview he gave at the weekend to Le Journal du Dimanche, telling the newspaper: “If you scratch the surface a bit, under the veneer of a French global super-champion that is being held up to us, I see an industrial mirage.”
It is a fascinating battle – and may yet change the way France looks at both takeover bids and the concept of national champions.

Pubs, restaurants and cafes in Scotland are being barred from selling alcohol indoors for 16 days from Friday, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
They can continue selling food and non-alcoholic drinks indoors until 6pm and are able to sell alcohol outside up until the 10pm curfew.

But in areas with particularly high coronavirus rates, all licenced premises apart from hotels will be forced to close both indoor and outdoor services, though can continue doing takeaways.

Image: Pubs across Scotland can only sell alcohol outdoors
Those tougher restrictions will affect Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley from 6pm on Friday.
Residents in those areas will also be encouraged not to travel outside them “if they don’t need to”, though the first minister insisted she was not ordering a second lockdown.

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Image: The measures will stay in place until 25 October
And snooker, pool and bingo halls as well as casinos in the problem regions will have to cease trading, with most contact sport also having to stop.

Gyms can stay open and exceptions will be made for already-booked life events like weddings and funerals.

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The Scottish government also confirmed National 5 exams will be cancelled for this academic year, with an “alternative approach” to be worked out based on exam centre estimates and teachers’ judgements.

Image: Tougher measures will come into effect in Greater Glasgow and other areas
Ms Sturgeon promised an extra £40m of government support will go towards businesses affected by the fresh restrictions.
She said the measures will last until Sunday 25 October and people do not need to cancel half-term plans.
In “many respects” the moves feel like “backward steps”, Ms Sturgeon admitted, but she said without action coronavirus cases could shoot up by the end of October to levels not seen since the first peak.
Deaths are already beginning to rise, she added, with the highest number of fatalities linked to COVID-19 recorded last week since late June.
But the Scottish Beer and Pub Association said the latest restrictions will “deliver a knockout blow for many of Scotland’s much-loved pubs and the communities they serve”.
“We question the fairness and wisdom of these restrictions and the level of financial support available to help our sector through this,” chief executive Emma McClarkin added.

Image: Concern was raised about the financial support offered to affected businesses
And former Labour first minister Jack McConnell tweeted “pubs and restaurants are NOT the same”.
He wrote: “Majority of law abiding and decent businesses being punished because the Scottish Government is not enforcing the rules in the few places that are breaking the rules.
“Heartbreaking for those who have worked so hard. Lost the plot.”

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It comes after Ms Sturgeon warned yesterday she was getting “very strong public health advice” that further restrictions were necessary.
In England, the government is considering temporarily closing pubs and restaurants and limiting household mixing further.
The latest UK figures show there were 14,162 new coronavirus cases reported on Wednesday – a slight fall from 14,542 the previous day.
A further 70 people have also died within four weeks of testing positive – bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 42,515.