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”.

Clarification comes after PM fuelled speculation about EU-UK relationship in series of interviews at weekend

Downing Street has been forced to clarify Andy Burnham’s stance on whether the UK would return to having freedom of movement with the EU after the prime minister said an “honest discussion” was needed on the issue.

Burnham fuelled speculation about a return to freedom of movement in an interview at the weekend, prompting questions about how close the UK could become to Brussels.

EU exit has damaged economy and failed to bring promised benefits, says PM, but he rules out big pre-election changes

Brexit has not “played out” like it was promised to the public, has weakened the economy and the current deal is not good enough, Andy Burnham has said, while ruling out any major changes in the current parliament.

The prime minister said Britain had ended up with a “harder Brexit than was proposed in the referendum campaign” and it had not helped to control the small boats crisis. Backing the home secretary’s tougher immigration rules, he said Brexit had weakened the UK’s ability to control its borders as it could no longer send people back to Europe.