The Government spent £5.4bn less than it took in from taxpayers last month

The Government spent £5.4bn less than it took in from taxpayers last month, meaning there was a public finance surplus for the first time in a year, and a bigger surplus than forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility in November. However, it was driven by a seasonal surge in self-employed people paying their annual tax bill by the end of January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says. Neither can the surplus detract from the fact the country’s public finances are still under huge pressure - interest payments in January on the near £2.5 trillion UK debt pile hit their highest level since records began in 1997 at £6.7bn. Public sector debt excluding public sector banks stood at £2,492.1 billion at the end of January 2023, around 98.9% of GDP - with the debt to GDP ratio at levels last seen in the early 1960s.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak is facing a rebellion from his own backbenches and business leaders over the planned increase in corporation tax, which is set to rise form 19% to 25% from 1^st April. Seven top Tory backbenchers and business owners have urged Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to scrap the rise, arguing it will risk tanking any green shoots of Britain’s economic growth. In a letter penned by former Brexit minister David Jones, MPs say the rise will see the UK lose out on “potential new jobs and higher national output” and levelling up “hit hard”, while Sunak’s ambition to see Britain become a leading “science superpower will be undermined”. The note, arranged by the Centre for Brexit Policy, describes the decision by drugs firm AstraZeneca to invest £320m in the Republic of Ireland instead of northern England as a “dispiriting blow to the UK economy and a harbinger of what may come,” and warns UK competitiveness on corporation tax among OECD nations will fall from number six to ten. Signatories included the leaders of several major backbench groupings – Mark Francois, of the European Research Group; Sir John Redwood, of the No Turning Back group; Sir Jake Berry of the Northern Research Group; and Greg Smith, of the Conservative Way Forward. Conservative Growth Group leader Simon Clarke and ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith also added their names to the missive, alongside businessmen Robert Agostinelli, Sir Rocco Forte, Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin, and Lord Cruddas.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is looking to overhaul rules governing the asset management industry in a bid to keep the UK attractive to international money managers following Brexit, City A.M. reports. In a discussion paper published yesterday, the FCA said it was looking to “improve asset management regulation with a more modern and tailored regime” as part of its overhaul of financial rules. The UK asset management industry – which collectively handles around £11 trillion in assets – is still governed by retained EU laws which the FCA will now have powers to reform under the Future Regulatory Framework, tabled by ministers to boost powers of UK financial regulators. However, Reuters says the FCA makes it clear that it will stick to "strong international standards" given Britain's global role in asset management. The news agency also says there will be a focus on bolstering liquidity after a near meltdown in funds used by pension schemes last September.

Junior doctors in England have voted for a 72-hour strike next month, their trade union the British Medical Association (BMA) said yesterday. The BMA did not give a date for the strike.

The average asking price for a UK home rose by just £14 from January to February, according to property website Rightmove - the lowest increase for the month since its records began in 2001. The average asking price for a home is now £362,452, it said.

The Government launched its new energy efficiency taskforce yesterday, naming NatWest CEO Alison Rose as its co-chair. The taskforce has been asked to devise a plan to reduce total UK energy demand by 15% by 2030 compared, to 2021 levels, across domestic and commercial buildings and industrial processes, the government said in a statement. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Minister Lord Martin Callanan is co-chair.

The spike in wholesale gas costs since Russia invaded Ukraine last February has cost the UK an extra £50-60bn, with total spending on gas rising to around £70bn, according to fresh estimates from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). At a personal level, this means the average Brit has had to fork out an additional £1,000 over the last 12 months on energy bills…and there is more to come. According to a separate report data released this morning by energy analysts Cornwall Insights, bills are set to go up a further 20%, an average of £500 a year, despite an expected reduction in Ofgem's household energy cap. The energy regulator will cap the amount households pay on electricity and gas bills each year at £3,294 from 1^st April, Cornwall Insights forecasts - a drop from the previous cap of £4,279, effective from the beginning of January to the end of March. But the hike will still occur as the government's energy price guarantee only partially protects consumers from paying the full price cap. Under the energy price guarantee, household energy bills will be limited to £3,000 a year from 1^st April, an increase of £500 from the current guarantee rate of £2,500.

EDF's new nuclear plant in southwest England is likely to cost about 2% more than its last budget estimate as inflation propels the price tag to almost £33bn. Reuters says EDF warned in a results presentation on Friday that the cost of the Hinkley Point C project, Britain's first new nuclear plant in more than two decades, "could reach £32.7bn" based on inflation indexes as of June 30^th 2022.

Sky News has learnt that Harcus Parker, a London-based commercial litigation law firm, is close to filing what it believes will be among the biggest competition compensation claims in UK history against Mastercard and Visa. The filing, at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), will allege that Mastercard and Visa overcharged businesses for multilateral interchange fees (MIFs), which are paid by businesses to their banks to accept payment by credit or debit card. MIFs are estimated to comprise as much as 90% of the cost of a typical company's monthly bank charge. The claim will argue that these fees are set by Mastercard and Visa themselves, rather than by market forces, and are imposed on banks as a condition of their participation in the two companies' card schemes. Harcus Parker declined to comment on the prospective size of the action against the two card giants, but one source said they expected that £7.5bn was the minimum figure they expected, and that it could ultimately be worth close to double that sum. "We are standing up for UK businesses - big and small - and demanding that they be properly compensated," Thomas Ross, a partner at Harcus Parker, told Sky.

Consumer credit report company Experian has won its appeal against the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over the way it deals with personal information. According to the ICO, an information rights tribunal supported the claim that Experian had not processed the personal data of more than 5 million people "transparently, fairly or lawfully" because it didn't tell them the data was being used for direct marketing purposes. However, the tribunal rejected the ICO's view that Experian's privacy notice was not transparent, that using credit reference data for direct marketing purposes was unfair, or that Experian did not properly assess its lawful basis. Experian said it was "very pleased" with the decision.

Virgin Media O2 and its shareholders are reportedly exploring a takeover bid for Trooli, one of the UK's 'altnet' fibre broadband companies. According to Sky News, Virgin Media - which is jointly owned by Liberty Global and Spain's Telefonica - is among a substantial number of parties examining offers for Trooli as part of a formal auction process. Telecoms industry sources told Sky that any offer was likely to be worth more than £100m.

Lockheed Martin is reportedly set to build a new manufacturing plant in the North East of England. The aerospace and defence giant’s first satellite production facility outside the US is expected to create up to 2,300 jobs. “We are committed to making the UK one of the most prosperous and capable space sectors in the world. With its strong manufacturing heritage, highly-skilled workforce and reputation for quality, we’ve identified North East England as a strong contender for our future operations, potentially creating new high-technology engineering and manufacturing jobs for the region,” Smith said in a statement.

Tesco is putting hourly wages for store workers up by 7% from April, to £11.02 per hour from £10.30 currently. The supermarket said the increase, a third in ten months, will cost it over £230m. Britain's largest retailer is also considering selling Tesco Bank, according to Sky News, which has reported a review process has begun, but is at a very early stage, according to insiders, and may not lead to a formal sale process. A partial sale or joint venture may also be considered. Tesco is potentially bringing in Goldman Sachs to advise on Tesco Bank’s future, according to the report.

Sainsbury’s is to launch discount £2 fruit and vegetable boxes, saying the ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me’ boxes will include a variety of surplus fresh fruit and vegetables to “ensure customers have access to affordable nutritious food, as the cost of living continues to rise”. “We believe that everyone deserves to eat well at an affordable price, and we hope this additional support will ensure that good quality food doesn’t go to waste,”  Richard Crampton, Sainsbury’s director of fresh food, said.

Planet Organic is reported to have taken on advisers with a view to a possible sale. According to Sky News, the British grocer is working with financial advisory firm Interpath on a review of its “strategic options to “help deliver its growth plans”. Last September, the organic grocer said that it was looking to raise £30m over the next two years to help with the roll out of over 100 stores across the UK. The grocery chain, headed by George Dymond, currently has 13 stores in London and is set to open a new site in Teddington at the end of February. The plan was announced in conjunction with the group’s most recent financial accounts ending August 2021, with Planet Organic posting a turnover of £37.6m, down from £40.7m the previous year.

Bitcoin appears to be on the rise again, after plummeting to around $18,000 from its all-time high price of over $68,000 in November last year. It swung just above $25,000 on Sunday, as the entire cryptocurrency market capitalisation rose to $1.17tn. Bitcoin is the world's largest digital asset by market capitalisation, and was trading at $24,500 yesterday, up 12.4% in the past week.

Twitter is reportedly facing a barrage of lawsuits with claims from landlords, consultants, and suppliers piling up, all of whom are alleging bills have been left since billionaire Elon Musk's $44billion takeover of the social media giant. So far, the complaints, total more than $14 million, plus interest according to nine lawsuits seen by the Wall Street Journal. Musk has publicly criticised the company’s spending prior to his purchase of it, immediately  adopting a more frugal attitude, shuttering offices, and auctioning off 'woke' office supplies, such as a massive Twitter bird statue and other thousand-dollar items starting at $25, the Daily Mail says.  The items from the San Francisco office included valuable luxury items, such as a $20,000 espresso machine, a $10,000 vegetable dryer and a $17,000 braising pan. An '@' shaped planter was also up for grabs, along with chairs, tables and kegs, the newspaper adds. It has been reported here previously that The Crown Estate has launched legal action against Twitter at the High Court for rental arrears on an office space close to Piccadilly Circus.