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Boris Johnson has been accused of wrecking the hospitality industry “to save his own skin” after announcing new Covid restrictions that threaten to wipe £8bn off its sales at the height of the festive season (The Telegraph).

Boris Johnson once again told people to work from home yesterday as he tightened Covid-19 restrictions after being warned that a million people would catch the Omicron variant in the next month (The Times £).

Sterling dipped to a new 2021 low against the US dollar at one point yesterday as expectations that the Bank of England will raise interest rates next week waned because of the new Plan B restrictions to slow the spread of the emergent Omicron variant (The Times £).

Plans for 1,200 Tesco distribution centre workers to strike have been suspended, the Unite union has said (BBC News).

Tesco will hand an above-inflation pay rise to thousands of workers to end the threat of strikes at its depots before Christmas (The Telegraph).

Sales at SSP have recently recovered to two thirds of pre-pandemic levels but the Omicron variant has added uncertainty to the catering company’s outlook as it reported another heavy annual loss (The Times £).

The Upper Crust-owner revealed revenues in the year to 30 September decreased by over 40% to £834.2m, while pre-tax losses remained above £400m for the second year running (The Mail).

Nestlé is selling back part of its stake in L’Oréal for almost €9bn, scaling down a decades-old relationship between the world’s largest food company and the cosmetics maker (The Financial Times £).

Coffee drinkers have been given an unwelcome pre-Christmas jolt after wholesale prices jumped to a ten-year high this week (The Times £).