Dec 20 (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

- The New York-listed, London-based private members' club Soho House & Co said it has received a takeover offer from a new consortium.

- The British retail chain Original Factory Shop has hired new advisers to explore a number of options for the business, including a possible fresh sale attempt.

The Guardian

- Bank of England policymakers voted to keep interest rates on hold as they warned UK growth is on the brink of stagnation amid the fallout from Rachel Reeves's budget and the threat of Donald Trump reigniting global trade wars.

- Britain's data protection regulator has labelled Google

as "irresponsible" for allowing advertisers to track customers' digital "fingerprints", amid fears that even privacy-conscious users will find the online monitoring technique difficult to block.

The Telegraph

- The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has warned bosses that it plans to take part in "disruptive" industrial action in the new year as it threatened further strikes in protest against the sale of The Observer.

- BT defeated a 1.3 billion pound ($1.62 billion) lawsuit brought against the British telecoms company that alleged it had overcharged millions of customers for fixed telephone lines.

Sky News

- The preferred bidder for The Daily Telegraph, Dovid Efune, is in London for talks with Telegraph executives, investors and advisers after a period of exclusive negotiations to clinch a deal came to an end.

- British regulator Ofwat said it plans to fine Thames Water 18 million pounds for breaking dividend payment rules, the first time the watchdog is taking action against water firms that do not link payouts to performance.

The Independent

- The British Prime Minister signalled that tech giants should not get a subsidy off the back of British creative industries as he was grilled about proposals to regulate the impact of artificial intelligence $(AI)$ on copyright by a committee of senior MPs.

($1 = 0.8010 pounds)

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)

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