Wednesday newspaper round-up: Fuel duty, Post Office, ECB

Retaining the fuel duty cut in the budget is a regressive policy that benefits the wealthiest in society, who will save £60 a year, while those who earn the least will save just £22, according to analysis. Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce an extension of the 5p cut in fuel duty brought in during 2022, a proposal that has won him plaudits across the rightwing press. – Guardian

The Post Office’s finance chief has been on sick leave for almost a year after clashing with its chief executive, The Telegraph can disclose. Alisdair Cameron, the chief financial officer, has been signed off work since last April and has not attended a single board meeting since then. He is still listed as sitting on the Post Office board and the company, which is taxpayer owned, refuses to reveal his interim replacement. It is alleged that chief executive Nick Read asked the Government to authorise a pay-off for Mr Cameron but that request was declined. – Telegraph

Christine Lagarde is facing growing backlash from staff at the European Central Bank (ECB) over its “one-sided” views on climate change policies. In a letter seen by The Telegraph, the ECB’s staff committee complained that remarks by a board member on the need to “reprogramme” employees failing to embrace the bank’s climate policies had an “undeniable authoritarian note”. – Telegraph

High interest rates and falling corporate real estate prices pose a serious risk to the US banking system, the International Monetary Fund has said, as it warned of the prospect of looming bank failures. On the anniversary of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the IMF has rung the alarm bell over the risks of another round of bank failures triggered by the worst fall in commercial property values in half a century in the world’s largest economy. – The Times

The shipyard that built the Titanic has been named as the preferred bidder for a £120 million contract to build a new port for the Falkland Islands. Belfast-based Harland & Wolff was selected by the Islands’ government for the project. Subject to agreeing the final contract pricing and concluding commercial negotiations, work on the two-year project is expected to begin later this year. The manufacturing group will construct, transport and install four floating pontoons, measuring 90 metres each to the South Atlantic. – The Times