Theresa May faces no confidence vote, rumours swirl that Amazon has sights on Morrisons, and more top news

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Conservative MPs will hold a vote of no confidence in Theresa May on Wednesday over her handling of the Brexit negotiations. Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the party's 1922 Committee, confirmed that he had received at least 48 letters from MPs, meeting the 15% benchmark to spark a vote. As it stands, May will need the backing of at least 158 Conservative colleagues to survive. The decision follows May's unsuccessful attempt to persuade European leaders to alter her deal for Britain to leave the EU this week.

Shares in Morrisons jumped on Tuesday, following rumours that US giant Amazon could be preparing a bid for the supermarket chain. The takeover talk was mentioned in the Financial Times’ Alphaville markets chatroom. Morrisons, which has had wholesale supply deals in place with Amazon since 2016, has long been considered a takeover target. Last year, Amazon acquired upscale grocery chain Whole Foods for ￡10.7bn. Both companies have denied to comment.

UK workers got their biggest pay rise in a decade in October, despite a surge in unemployment. According to official figures, annual wage growth rose to 3.3% in the three months to October, the most since the last quarter of 2008. While the number of people in work rose, unemployment also jumped by 20,000 to 1.38 million, increasing for a second consecutive month. Meanwhile, separate research by recruitment firm Morgan Mckinley found banking sector vacancies fell 39% in the last year.

Britain’s biggest companies paid approximately 12% of all UK tax last year. According to PWC, companies listed in the FTSE 100 paid a combined ￡84bn in tax last year, an increase of more than ￡1bn on the previous year. Retailers and financial services companies paid the bulk of the bill, contributing 60%, up from 46% a decade ago. HM Revenue & Customs has come under pressure from the Treasury and the public to collect more revenue from some multinationals.

The UK’s productivity gap with France is only half as big as previously thought, according to one think tank which has re-crunched the numbers. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that British employees work far fewer hours than official measures suggest, suggesting the gap is due to differences in the way working hours are measured in different countries. The OECD estimates the productivity gap between the UK and France is actually around 10%.

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This article has been updated: From earlier: WPP is cutting 3,500 jobs worldwide, as the world’s biggest advertising group announces a major restructure.

Idea of the Day: In order to prepare for the future of work, companies should be thoughtful about their transformation, says Walmart CEO Doug McMillon.

“We’re creating a company that is people-led and tech-empowered. Our people made the difference yesterday, just as they do today, and just as they will tomorrow.”

— Natalie MacDonald