Business rates, Barclays, mortgages and Centrica

The row over a sharp rise in business rates rumbles on – but now the government has bowed to sustained pressure and announced help for small firms. The Guardian reports that Philip Hammond will announce new measures in the budget on 8 March following comments by the communities secretary that more should be done ‘to level the playing field’. At Prime Minister’s questions yesterday, Theresa May said that small businesses left with the highest rate increases would be given help. Stamp duty The Times reports that ‘sharp increases in the stamp duty on expensive homes are costing the Treasury as much as £500 million a year’. According to new analysis by Paul Nash, a partner at PwC, the tax take from homes worth more than £1.5 million fell to £749 million in the nine months to November 2016, from £1.08 billion in the corresponding period of 2015. Barclays The BBC reports on Barclays’ results, saying that the bank has revealed a jump in annual profits after making ‘strong progress’ in restructuring.