Dec 1 - 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

* Britain's Labour MPs are to be offered a free vote on extending air strikes against Islamic State in Syria, while Jeremy Corbyn maintains that his opposition to the strikes will be the party's official policy. (http://thetim.es/1Ix79vG)

* Business groups have attacked the government for "changing the goalposts" after a new rule that companies winning disputes with HM Revenue & Customs will be taxed heavily. Measures contained in the fine print of the chancellor's autumn statement will impose a "penal" 45 per cent tax rate on interest payouts made to companies that win legitimate tax refunds. (http://thetim.es/1RfyJVp)

The Guardian

* Uber Technologies, the ride-hailing app firm that is taking on taxi drivers around the world, is launching its car-sharing service in London. UberPool will be available to customers in the capital from Friday, enabling passengers to share taxi rides if they are heading in the same direction. (http://bit.ly/1lpGjQO)

* More than 2,000 workers at the digger maker JCB have voted to work fewer hours to reduce the number of redundancies demanded by the company as it struggles to cope with falling global demand for mining and construction equipment. (http://bit.ly/1PWrDpC)

The Telegraph

* BATS Global Markets is said to be eyeing a float next year and could file documents with the U.S. regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a matter of weeks. The exchange operator, which is one of the biggest, will be hoping the IPO goes far more smoothly that its first try, when BATS's debut on its own exchange went catastrophically wrong. (http://bit.ly/1l3t3lz)

* ICBC Standard Bank has had to pay out $32.5 million (£21.6 million) to Britain and Tanzania for failing to stop a bribe being paid which it helped to secure business in the African country. (http://bit.ly/1RhD0I3)

Sky News

* Fortnum & Mason has reported record sales and profits for its last financial year - driven by its new website. It said its new website, launched during the period, helped online sales rise 22 percent while like-for-like sales enjoyed a 13 percent increase. (http://bit.ly/1l3tzzM)

* Diageo PLC, the owner of Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff, is laying the foundations for the appointment of a successor to its veteran chairman. Sky News has learnt that Diageo has appointed JCA Group, a leading boardroom headhunter, to identify a non-executive director capable of replacing Franz Humer in a couple of years. (http://bit.ly/1HBdATN)

The Independent

* Britain's banks will tonight learn whether they have passed tough Bank of England stress tests, after the collapsed bank HBOS was told it had "less than" a 1 in 100,000 chances of failing those imposed by the then regulator just three years before its near-collapse. (http://ind.pn/1jsgYoa) (Compiled by Sneha Johny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)