PRESS DIGEST-British Business - May 18

May 18 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The Times

- UK finance minister Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans to increase the warm home discount by hundreds of pounds before cutting taxes to help with the cost-of-living crisis. https://bit.ly/3sGXAun

- Saudi Aramco is said to be considering a spin-off of its trading arm through a separate listing that could value the division at more than $30 billion. https://bit.ly/37UlFXx

The Guardian

- The European Commission has raised the spectre of an economically damaging trade war with the UK, pledging to respond with "all measures at its disposal" if Liz Truss presses ahead with a plan to rewrite the Northern Ireland protocol. https://bit.ly/39sfw5c

The Telegraph

- The Bank of England has made "serious mistakes" in the fight against inflation and is facing a prolonged bout of painful price rises unless it acts immediately, its former Governor Lord King has warned. https://bit.ly/3Nn8kpO

- Nicole Eagan, chief strategy officer at Darktrace PLC , was investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for her role in the $11 billion sale of software business Autonomy a decade ago, Justice Hildyard revealed in a judgment handed down on Tuesday. https://bit.ly/3LpVFkp

Sky News

- UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has written to the leading petrol retailers "to remind them of their responsibilities" to pass on tax cuts to motorists. https://bit.ly/3NlxhSp

- UK finance minister Rishi Sunak has refused to rule out introducing a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producers in an attempt to cut household energy bills - as some senior Conservative MPs joined Labour in calling for the policy to be implemented. https://bit.ly/3NhKwU8

The Independent

- The UK's state-run train operator, LNER, is taking on Trainline PLC with its own version of "split ticketing"– the increasingly popular technique to cut the cost of rail journeys. https://bit.ly/3wT772X (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)