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 ( SHCO ) 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)