Friday newspaper round-up: Royal Mail, council tax, GSK

The owner of Royal Mail is facing a near £900m class action claim over accusations it abused its “dominant position” in the market for sending out bulk mail, including bank statements and weekly magazines. International Distribution Services (IDS) has been served with an £878m action by a newly formed company that said it represents an estimated 290,000 customers who claim they were overcharged as a result of Royal Mail’s behaviour. – Guardian

Jess Christman, who runs a Scottish timber business, recalls that banks were “throwing money” at him during the Covid-19 pandemic as Rishi Sunak, then the chancellor, sought to help small companies stave off collapse. Christman, who runs Black Isle Firewood, near Inverness, which produces firewood and sawn timber and huts for the tourism market, ended up taking out a government-backed loan under the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS). – Guardian

Households should brace for a £600 rise in annual council tax bills regardless of who wins the election, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The think tank said the failure of all parties to set out detailed plans on how they would pay for social care proposals would force councils, which deliver the services, to drastically raise taxes. Increasing council tax by 5pc per year – the maximum allowed annually without a local referendum – would raise the average band D property’s annual bill by £600 by the end of the next parliament. – Telegraph

GSK remains “unequivocally, 100 per cent committed” to retaining its listing in Britain, the drugs company’s chief executive has said, in a boost for the London Stock Exchange after several big companies moved their listings to New York. Speaking at The Times CEO Summit, Dame Emma Walmsley said that although GSK generated only 3 per cent of its business in Britain and that while she considered herself a “globalist” who had worked around the world, switching the company’s listing was “not a debate for us”. – The Times