Thursday newspaper round-up: Energy bills, Royal Mail, HSBC

(Sharecast News) - Physical and financial harm will be caused to millions of vulnerable families unless the government takes action to avert a winter catastrophe by cutting energy bills, leading economists have warned. In the run-up to the announcement of the new energy price cap tomorrow the Resolution Foundation thinktank said radical policies such as price freezes, solidarity taxes or lower social tariffs were needed to prevent the cost of living crisis worsening. - Guardian Thousands more homeowners who paid a doubled ground rent on their property will get a refund after the competition watchdog cracked down on "unfair" leasehold practices. More than 5,000 households in the UK will be compensated after being caught in contracts in which their ground rents doubled every 10 years. - Guardian

Royal Mail is preparing to take on its striking trade union by tearing up a "groundbreaking" agreement to protect jobs and conditions that was signed when the company was privatised nine years ago. Executives and legal advisers have been collecting evidence to allow them to trigger the break clause in Royal Mail's legally binding contract with the Communications Workers Union (CWU), senior sources told The Telegraph. - Telegraph

UK short-term borrowing costs have jumped to a post-financial crisis high as traders increase bets on faster Bank of England interest rate rises and a looming recession. The yield on two year government debt - which is sensitive to interest rate expectations - rose by more than 20 basis points to 2.9pc on Wednesday. This is the highest since the end of 2008, when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. - Telegraph

The Chinese investor pushing HSBC to split in two has insisted it is not an activist shareholder, but nonetheless has stuck with its demand for an overhaul of the British bank, putting the two parties on a potential collision course. It emerged in April that Ping An, the insurance company that is HSBC's largest shareholder, had told the bank's bosses that it believed the lender should spin off its giant Asian business to unlock value for shareholders. HSBC's bosses have rejected the proposal, arguing that breaking up the group would be risky, complicated and would ultimately destroy value. - The Times