The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.24 per cent or 17.68 points to 7,403.01 this afternoon, and sterling is at $1.35 against the US dollar.
British house prices rose by 1 per cent in December, doubling forecasts of 0.5 per cent and capping the biggest full-year rise in prices since 2006, figures from mortgage lender Nationwide show.
House prices this month were 10.4 per cent higher than in December 2020 and the average price of a property stood at record high of £254,822.
HM Revenue and Customs is set to spend £155million over the next two years clawing back the estimated £5.8billion lost through the Covid support schemes it administered.
The Department for Work and Pensions, in contrast, has been handed £510million to tackle the Covid-related rise in benefits fraud, estimated at £3.4billion.
Investment bankers who worked on takeovers of British businesses raked in a fees bonanza this year.
Firms from Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs to London-based financier Robey Warshaw – which employs former chancellor George Osborne – earned £4.5billion for their work, according to analysis by data firm Refinitiv.
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HMRC is attempting to claw back the £5.8billion lost through the Covid support schemes it administered
