NatWest buys Metro Bank mortgage book for £2.3bn and spent £24m on axed share sale campaign – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets.

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 which scuppered the roll-out, was revealed as it also announced that it has acquired a raft of mortgages from Metro Bank for £2.4bn.

The bank 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 toward 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, following 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.

The Agenda

• 9am BST: Italy business and consumer confidence, July

• From 945am BST: Allan Leighton, former chair of Royal Mail and Post Office, to give evidence at the Horizon IT public inquiry

• 1pm BST: USA Core PCE Price Index (June), PCE Price Index (June)