Friday newspaper round-up: Cancelled govt projects, oil and gas tax raid, recession risk

(Sharecast News) - Cancelled government projects such as the Rwanda deportation scheme and the road tunnel under Stonehenge are wasting billions of pounds of taxpayer money a year, parliament's spending watchdog has found. About £6.6bn was written off by government departments last year alone - state spending that did not achieve its intended objectives or create any value for the taxpayer, the public accounts committee said. - Guardian Rachel Reeves has launched a fresh tax raid on energy giants, including BP and Shell, to fund £1.8bn of cost of living support. Ms Reeves has scrapped a tax rule allowing oil and gas companies to offset profits made in Britain against losses made by foreign subsidiaries. Cutting the Foreign Branch Exemption is expected to raise hundreds of millions of pounds a year for the Treasury, and the Chancellor said the money would fund a £1.8bn package of support for families and businesses, announced on Thursday. - Telegraph

A British brick-maker is closing its 139-year-old factory after housebuilding levels across the country collapsed. Michelmersh Brick Holdings said it would cease operations at its Charnwood Plant, in Shepshed, Leicestershire, where it produces traditional, handmade red bricks, by the end of this month. It said the decision followed weaker demand for building materials and warned that "a lack of confidence" among consumers was holding back construction activity across the UK. - Telegraph

The risk of the UK entering a recession is rising as higher oil prices fuel inflation, potentially forcing the Bank of England to raise interest rates this year, a Bank of England policymaker warned. Alan Taylor, an external member of the Bank's nine-strong monetary policy committee, said that the worst of the central bank's possible scenarios for the war in Iran, where oil prices remain above $100 for the rest of the year, was "likely correct". - The Times

Michael Thomson, the former head of a collapsed investment company, has been jailed for six months after he breached a court order by selling items including a hot tub and horse saddles. Lawyers for the Serious Fraud Office told a hearing at Southwark crown court in London yesterday that the former boss of London Capital & Finance should be sent to prison for the second breach of a restraint order. - The Times