John Healey faces questions over budget leak that moved bank share prices

Treasury select committee asks FCA to investigate whether tax surcharge leak led to ‘improper release of inside information’

John Healey is facing pressure to clarify whether he permitted a market-sensitive budget leak ahead of his statement, which moved bank share prices.

The chair of the influential Commons Treasury select committe, Meg Hillier, has written to the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority watchdog (FCA) to assess whether a story leaked to Bloomberg, and published more than an hour before the budget was revealed, led to an “improper release of inside information”.

45am noting the bank corporation tax surcharge would be lower than the 8% that lenders had feared, and the increase would only be temporary.