NatWest was forced to spend £24m on the former Tory government’s shelved “Tell Sid” campaign featuring Sir Trevor McDonald to promote the sale of the bank’s shares to the public. NatWest’s bill for the campaign, which was set to launch within days of Rishi Sunak announcing the surprise early summer election that scuppered the rollout, was revealed as the group also announced that it had acquired a number of mortgages from Metro Bank for £2.4bn. NatWest was forced to stump up for part of what would have been a £10m-plus advertising push - which included TV ads featuring the veteran newsreader and presenter popping up around the UK asking the public “Are you in?” – because of agreements with the government dating back to the tax-payer funded bailout in 2008. NatWest has had to pay for part of the preparation costs for the sale, including the production of the advertising, printing and distributing documents, as well as legal fees and expenses. The campaign was part of the Tory party’s efforts to return the bank - formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland – to private ownership by 2025-26, after its £46bn taxpayer bailout during the height of the financial crisis. There were also hopes that the campaign would encourage everyday savers to start investing in British stocks. The nationwide push had been originally intended as a “pre-election sweetener” to help the Tories. Drivers are still paying too much for their fuel, with increases in retailers’ fuel margins costing consumers £1.6bn last year, according to the Competition and Markets Authority. The regulator said that retail margins remain “significantly” above historic levels, a year after criticising the market for failing customers. The CMA said that retailers’ fuel margins - the difference between what they pay for their fuel and the price they sell it at - remained high, with supermarkets’ fuel margins roughly double what they were in 2019. The agenda • 9am BST: Italy business and consumer confidence, July • From 9.45am BST: Allan Leighton, the former chair of Royal Mail and Post Office, to give evidence at the Horizon IT public inquiry • 1pm BST:US Core PCE Price Index (June), PCE Price Index (June) We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
That’s a workplace pension with ProfitShare. This year, we are sharing £163 million of our profits with over 2 million eligible customers. There’s no guarantee ProfitShare can be awarded every year.
… there is a good reason why not to support the Guardian
Not everyone can afford to pay for news right now. That is why we keep our journalism open for everyone to read. If this is you, please continue to read for free. But if you are able to, then there are three good reasons to support us today.
1
Our quality, investigative journalism is a powerful force for scrutiny at a time when the rich and powerful are getting away with more and more
2
We are independent and have no billionaire owner telling us what to report, so your money directly powers our reporting
3
It doesn’t cost much, and takes less time than it took to read this message
Help power the Guardian’s journalism in this crucial year of news, whether with a small sum or a larger one. If you can, please support us on a monthly basis . It takes less than a minute to set up, and you can rest assured that you're making a big impact every single month in support of open, independent journalism. Thank you.
You are receiving this email because you are a subscriber to Business Today. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396
