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Report suggests time taxpayers spent on phone waiting to speak to adviser has more than doubledThe annual total amount of time taxpayers spent on the phone waiting to speak to a HM Revenue and Customs adviser has more than doubled to the equivalent of almost 800 years, according to a report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog.The National Audit Office (NAO) found that average call waiting...

Former chancellor plans to join online retailer owned by the billionaire Barclay family in JuneBusiness live – latest updatesFormer chancellor Nadhim Zahawi is to become chair of Very Group, the online retailer owned by the billionaire Barclay family, days after announcing that he would step down as a Conservative MP at the next general election.Zahawi’s appointment at Very comes after he announced on Thursday...

Exclusive: Action by organisation supporting migrants argues new rules are discriminatoryAn organisation that supports migrant workers has launched a legal challenge against the government’s new policy to bar care workers from bringing children and partners to the UK, warning that it is “tearing families apart”.According to Migrants at Work, care workers have to choose between family life with their children and partners or getting...

Government borrowed £120.7bn in the last financial year, with just under £12bn in MarchBusiness live – latest updatesJeremy Hunt’s scope for a substantial pre-election tax giveaway has been hit after the latest set of official figures showed the UK’s public finances in worse shape than thought at last month’s budget.Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the government borrowed £120.7bn in the...

Shadow chancellor will tell high-profile financial audience that ‘mission-led’ governments must take a lead in turbulent timesThe shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will pledge to embark on a “decade of renewal” if Labour is returned to power at the next election.Speaking at the annual Mais lecture in London on Tuesday, Reeves will tell an audience of bankers and financial executives that she will create a...

BMA committee votes in emergency motion after Tory donor’s comments about MP condemned as racist and misogynistGPs are calling on the Tory donor Frank Hester to resign from his health tech company after his remarks about Diane Abbott which have been widely condemned as racist and misogynist.Hester’s company TPP runs the electronic patient records of almost half the medical practices in the UK, making...

Henry Staunton claims request was made so government could ‘limp into’ the next general electionA former Post Office chair said he was told by a senior civil servant to stall compensation payouts to post office operators so the government could “limp into” the general election.Henry Staunton, who was sacked by the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, last month amid anger over the Horizon scandal, said...

A business department report trumpeting the four-year benefits of leaving the EU does not match the reality faced by companiesOn the four-year anniversary of Brexit last Wednesday, business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch trumpeted its successes. “The British people’s conviction that the UK would excel as masters of our own fate has paid dividends,” she said, launching a report detailing the benefits.Among the top...

December deficit is less than expected at £14bn – the lowest for the month since 2019Business live – latest updatesA halving of UK government borrowing over the past year has created scope for Jeremy Hunt to make tax cuts worth about £20bn in his March budget.Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that higher VAT and income tax receipts coupled with lower spending...