Nov 25 (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

- Tax increases in the budget have made it harder for businesses to "take a chance" on hiring people, Rain Newton-Smith, the head of the Confederation of British Industry $(CBI)$ says as the UK government prepares to announce big welfare reforms that aim to "get Britain working".

- Britain's Financial Conduct Authority $(FCA)$ is opaque and unaccountable and "widely seen as incompetent", according to a report due to be revealed in parliament on Tuesday, which includes the opinions of some current and former staff.

The Guardian

- The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) is said to be in talks over a potential sale of its stakes in the UK airports to minority shareholders.

- Millions of tourists to the UK could soon be asked to pay a local visitor levy as cash-strapped councils try to raise money to fund services.

The Telegraph

- The Bill to legalise assisted dying has enough support to pass the UK parliamentary vote on Friday, MPs sponsoring the legislation believe.

- The Observer newspaper made a profit of more than 3 million pounds ($3.7 million)last year, according to internal figures which raise questions over claims it must be offloaded to protect British news publisher The Guardian.

Sky News

- Norwegian online classifieds group Adevinta has agreed to sell Distilled, which owns popular property site Daft.ie, to Blacksheep Fund Management for more than 500 million euros ($523.7 million).

The Independent

- EasyJet EZJ.L has announced its new longest route from England. The budget airline said it will operate flights between London's Gatwick airport and the island of Sal in Cape Verde from March 31 next year.

($1 = 0.9547 euros)

($1 = 0.7937 pounds)

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)

((globalnewsmonitoring@thomsonreuters.com))