The Guardian has published a story based on The Grocer’s exclusive interview with Aldi CEO Matthew Barnes. The papers leads with the line that Barnes has set out an ambitious plan to conquer the UK grocery market that could see Aldi open up to eight stores in some towns. Aldi had set a target to reach 1,000 stores by 2022 but Barnes told The Grocer the total could be closer to 1,300 by that date, and added: “I think there is massively more potential than that.”

Click here to read The Grocer’s news story from the interview and click here to read the full profile of Barnes, which will also appear in this weekend’s new issue.

Morrisons has significantly boosted boss David Potts’s pay package after shareholders pushed for him to be paid more, The Telegraph writes. The story, taken from the Morrisons annual report, adds that Potts will receive up to a maximum £5.3m total pay-package after becoming eligible to receive more shares under the retailer’s long-term incentive plan (LTIP), totalling up to 300% of his base salary. He is also eligible for a 200% bonus of his £850,000 salary, although he must defer half of this into Morrisons shares for three years. The Times focuses on the fact that three years after being turfed out of the supermarket, ex-Morrisons boss Dalton Philips still gets a £350,000 bonus. Philips has been awarded £353,558 as part of the grocer’s 2014 to 2017 long-term incentive plan (LTIP), which will vest next month.

Takeaway delivery company Deliveroo has removed a clause banning its couriers from challenging their self-employed status at an employment tribunal, less than a month after MPs launched an attack on the gig economy for “unintelligible” contracts (The Telegraph). The new contract, which is now only four pages long, will also allow couriers to work for other companies at the same time as they work for Deliveroo and has removed a clause stating that riders needed to give two weeks’ notice to terminate their agreement with the takeaway delivery service (The Guardian).

There is a ‘Big Read’ in The Financial Times on EU fishing policy headlined ‘The Brexit catch for North Sea cod’. The piece says that EU policy helped stocks of the fish recover but the UK’s exit could unleash a free-for-all between Scottish and other fishermen.

The big news in the economy yesterday was the vote by the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England to keep interest rates unchanged at its May meeting. UK interest rates would be able to rise towards more normal levels during the next three years if Theresa May negotiated a “smooth” Brexit, the Bank of England said (The Financial Times). But, the paper says, in “a stark warning” to the prime minister less than one month before the general election, the central bank made it clear its sanguine forecasts depended on Mrs May coming back from Brussels with a Brexit deal that ensures companies will not have to make sharp adjustments as the UK leaves the EU.

The Guardian reports that the Bank of England warned households that living standards will fall this year as the effect of the Brexit vote works its way through to higher prices and meagre pay deals. The Telegraph takes a more positive view, writing that stronger business investment and the ongoing global recovery will ensure economic growth this year remains solid, even as households face the biggest real income squeeze in years. The warning that family finances will come under severe pressure once again comes just weeks before the election and little more than two years since the last pay squeeze (The Times).

In the wider retail world, The Telegraph notes that House of Fraser has defended its decision to hire a new chief executive with zero retail experience by highlighting the company’s increasing focus on leisure. The retailer named Alex Williamson, who has spent the last nine years at Goodwood, as its new CEO.

The Telegraph also picks up the news that the finance boss of Mothercare, Richard Smothers, has abruptly handed in his notice just one week before the baby and toddler accessories retailer unveils annual results. The Times adds that Smothers, who has quit just more than two years after joining the group, is understood to be leaving to join another company, although not a rival retailer.

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