Self-assessment tax record puts Britain in black

BRITAIN’S public finances were back in the black last month as a surge in self-employed workers’ tax payments boosted the Treasury’s coffers.

The surplus of £184m is the first in any July since 2002, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. Economists had expected the Treasury to record a deficit of £1bn, up from the £308m additional borrowing in July 2016. But instead rising self-assessment tax receipts gave the Chancellor a boost. The July figures show that payments of self-assessed income tax increased by 11pc from the same month of last year to £8bn, the highest level since records began in 1999.

As well as the self-assessed income tax, the Treasury also received a boost from a 5pc climb in value-added tax revenue.

HM Treasury’s current tax receipts rose by 3.6pc compared with July 2016, while spending only increased 1.6pc.

However, the deficit for the financial year to date is still up compared with last year.

From April to July the Government borrowed £22.8bn, up from £20.9bn in the same period a year ago.

Overall the deficit for the year is expected to rise from £45.1bn last year to £58.3bn this financial year, though the

that given pressure from the Government for Britain to catch up with European economies with better internet infrastructure, Ofcom was likely to be flexible.

The talks have been spurred by Openreach’s new independence. After a long row with the regulator, BT agreed this year to make it a legally separate subsidiary with its own board and more autonomy to conduct confidential discussions with industry players.

Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao is a long-standing advocate of joint investment and has ploughed billions into projects with Portugal Telecom and Orange in Spain, among others.

As BT battled Ofcom two years ago, he said: “We would be prepared to put some equity in a vehicle that could deliver fibre at good conditions to us and also to others, whether that is an independent Openreach or another company. If the investment is big, it is much better to share and then compete at the level of service.”

Openreach’s bilateral discussions with Vodafone are taking place alongside a wider industry consultation on the appetite for ultra-fast broadband. Openreach has so far committed to building two million fibre-optic lines but has said it would like to get to 10 million by 2025.

Sky sources said it was understood to be exploring a “take or pay” approach to fibre-optic upgrades. It would identify postcodes where it is ready to abandon copper telephone lines and deliver paytv over the internet, giving Openreach more confidence to invest. If Sky failed to use the new infrastructure, it would be liable to pay a penalty.

Vodafone has seized on the opportunity to become more involved and share the heavy cost of fibre-optic upgrades in its home territory after arriving late to the broadband market. It has about 250,000 subscribers compared with millions for its main rivals. Becoming an infrastructure owner and early leader in ultra-fast services is viewed by the company as one way to address the problem. Fibre-optics are also expected to become more important to its mobile network as it is upgraded to 5G technology requiring more masts in the next few years.

Vodafone declined to comment. An Openreach spokesman said that it was “open to co-investment models”. He added that the company was currently in confidential consultations with wholesale customers over the case for a “full-fibre” broadband network.