NatWest was forced to spend £24m on the former Tory government’s shelved “Tell Sid” campaign featuring Sir Trevor McDonald to promote the sale of the bank’s shares to the public.
NatWest’s bill for the campaign, which was set to launch within days of Rishi Sunak announcing the surprise early summer election that scuppered the rollout, was revealed as the group also announced that it had acquired a number of mortgages from Metro Bank for £2.4bn.
NatWest was forced to stump up for part of what would have been a £10m-plus advertising push - which included TV ads featuring the veteran newsreader and presenter popping up around the UK asking the public “Are you in?” – because of agreements with the government dating back to the tax-payer funded bailout in 2008.
NatWest has had to pay for part of the preparation costs for the sale, including the production of the advertising, printing and distributing documents, as well as legal fees and expenses.
The campaign was part of the Tory party’s efforts to return the bank - formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland – to private ownership by 2025-26, after its £46bn taxpayer bailout during the height of the financial crisis.
There were also hopes that the campaign would encourage everyday savers to start investing in British stocks.
The nationwide push had been originally intended as a “pre-election sweetener” to help the Tories.
Drivers are still paying too much for their fuel, with increases in retailers’ fuel margins costing consumers £1.6bn last year, according to the Competition and Markets Authority.
The CMA said that retailers’ fuel margins - the difference between what they pay for their fuel and the price they sell it at - remained high, with supermarkets’ fuel margins roughly double what they were in 2019.
The agenda • 9am BST: Italy business and consumer confidence, July • From 9.45am BST: Allan Leighton, the former chair of Royal Mail and Post Office, to give evidence at the Horizon IT public inquiry • 1pm BST:US Core PCE Price Index (June), PCE Price Index (June)
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