Thursday newspaper round-up: £100bn Brexit hole, RBS, Virgin Money

Philip Hammond will admit to the largest deterioration in British public finances since 2011 in next week’s Autumn Statement when the official forecast will show the UK faces a £100bn bill for Brexit within five years. Slower growth and lower-than-expected investment will hit tax revenues hard, the official forecasts will show, supporting the Treasury’s pre-referendum warnings that the long-term economic costs of Brexit are high. – Financial Times

Britain has jumped five places to tenth position in a World Bank league table of business-friendly tax regimes, in a sign of the government’s drive to increase competitiveness. The move reflected the corporate tax cuts introduced by George Osborne, the former chancellor, to demonstrate that Britain was “open for business”, as well as the relatively light compliance burden in the UK. The rise up the rankings also reflected Britain’s high score on a new indicator used for the survey, measuring how easy it is to receive VAT refunds, correct errors in tax forms and comply with a tax audit. – Financial Times

Car insurers have vowed to pass on the savings from a fresh crackdown on fake and exaggerated whiplash claims, which the Government has confirmed a year after the reforms were first announced. The right to cash compensation for minor whiplash could be abolished entirely, or capped at £425 for victims who can prove their injuries, under the proposals unveiled by the Ministry of Justice. – Telegraph

Royal Bank of Scotland could be forced to pay more than $12bn (£9.7bn) to settle claims in the US that it mis-sold toxic mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to UKFI, the body which manages the taxpayers’ stake in the lender. James Leigh-Pemberton, the chairman of UK Financial Investments (UKFI), told the Treasury Select Committee that the potential fine imposed on RBS by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) “might be $5bn, it might be $12bn”. He continued: “Based on what was said to Deutsche Bank it could be more”. – Telegraph

The archbishop of Canterbury will spend the next two years as part of a commission launched by a left-leaning thinktank that aims to rewrite the rules for Britain’s post-Brexit economy. Justin Welby will join other leading figures including the general secretary of the TUC, Frances O’Grady, and the chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, Sir Charlie Mayfield, on the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) programme that will seek remedies for six key UK weaknesses. - Guardian

Wilbur Ross, the American billionaire, is planning to sell about half his stake in Virgin Money in a share sale worth £91 million at the bank’s current price. Funds managed by WL Ross & Co, the private equity firm, were putting the finishing touches to the disposal of 27 million shares, or 6.1 per cent of the bank, last night. – The Times

Camelot has called on the government to clamp down on “bet-on-lottery” companies such as Lottoland after blaming “often aggressive competition” for a fall in National Lottery ticket sales in the first half. The group, which has run the National Lottery since its launch in 1994, reported a 6.3 per cent fall in sales to £3.39 billion, with the returns to good causes declining by 10.5 per cent to £783 million. – The Times