Scotland's papers: Amazon bid to cut its rates bill claim

Published: 7 August 2018

The Scottish Daily Mail reports that Amazon is attempting to have a £3.3m bill due for business rates at three of its Scottish sites reduced. The paper says that the retail giant, which makes £9bn worth of sales a year, has already successfully argued for a £200,000 reduction in rates for its giant Dunfermline depot.

The Daily Record leads with the death of a 31-year-old man in Clydebank. Father-of-one Dominic Brown was found with fatal injuries following a disturbance outside the Cleddans pub on Sunday.

Nicola Sturgeon is set for a face-to-face challenge with Theresa May over the prime minister's Brexit negotiations, writes The Herald, which quotes the first minister as warning that fears over a "catastrophic" no-deal could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The National also leads with the meeting between the two women in Edinburgh and says that Nicola Sturgeon has urged Mrs May to come up with a credible alternative to a "no-deal disaster".

Likewise, The Scotsman also writes that the prime minister will be urged to set out a Plan B when she meets Ms Sturgeon in Edinburgh, amid fears that the UK will leave the European Union without a deal.

Also leading on the meeting is the i newspaper, which notes a warning from Scottish economists who say that food shortages and border queues would be a reality if no deal on Brexit is reached.

Fears over a no-deal scenario over Brexit also feature on the front of the Daily Telegraph, but the paper's main story is a warning over the issue of so-called equity release mortgages. The loans that allow home owners to use their property as "cash machines" are a "ticking time bomb" if the market crashes, says the paper.

Britain is making plans to seek the extradition from Russia of two suspects identified as the perpetrators of the Salisbury novichok poisonings, reports The Times.

Senior Labour MPs have been making plans to oust UK leader Jeremy Corbyn during secret meetings at a luxury holiday estate, according to The Daily Express.

A Fife driving instructor has gone on trial in Dundee accused of sexually assaulting 15 of his students during their lessons, says the front page of The Courier.

Superfast broadband is to be rolled out to an additional 25,000 homes and businesses across the Highlands and Islands, bringing a massive economic boost to rural communities, says the Press and Journal.

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