Podcasts

Welcome to the This is Money and Share Radio Podcast, brought to you in partnership with NS&I. Dominating the financial headlines this week has been Chancellor Philip Hammond's final Spring Budget. Described by some as a tax raid on the self-employed and small businesses the announcements of hikes in national insurance and dividend tax have come as a surprise to many given previous Conservative election pledges. There has been some good offerings though with a multi-million pound fund put aside for 'disruptive' technologies from robots to driverless cars. Unpicking all the announcements Georgie Frost is joined by Editor Simon Lambert and Consumer Affairs Editor Lee Boyce. Plus how tax rises are also being extended to council tax and insurance premiums. This is Money is presented by Georgie Frost in partnership with NS&I.

US non farm payroll figures have been released and the they were stronger than expected with 235,000 position created in February. But wage growth slowed down. We found out more from Gregory Daco, Head of US Economics at Oxford Economics.

UK industrial and manufacturing production has fallen in January - what impact is Brexit and the fall in Sterling really having on the economy? Plus analysis on key US jobs data and more of the day's big economic stories with Viktor Nossek, director of research at WisdomTree Europe.

Shares in BT are up 5 percent as the company ends two years of wrangling over the future of its OpenReach division. Plus insurer Esure shares jump on positive news and Wetherspoons chairman rails against the budget. For all of the day's need-to-know company stories, Share Radio's Ed Bowsher spoke with Craig Erlam from OANDA.

The boss of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, is engulfed in a massive bribery scandal that's threatening to put him in jail. The case is also linked to the huge scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's President Park Geun-hye. Shares in South Korea rose 0.4% in Friday's session after the country's Constitutional Court upheld parliament's impeachment of the President. James Brydges reports.

Government ministers have revealed a Scottish Referendum is now looking "inevitable". Nicola Sturgeon previously said another vote "makes common sense" and her party would be ready to hold it in late 2018. We spoke to our Scottish correspondent Maurice Smith to find out more.

Philip Hammond's plan to increase national insurance on the self-employed has sparked a rebellion amongst many Tory MPs. The Chancellor argues that the move is "fair" and "necessary".

Cancer diagnostics company Volition announced its results today, and the company confirmed it made significant progress in 2016. The company’s Nu.Q test for Colorectal cancer won a ‘CE mark’ last year which proved that the test was accurate. A final logistics trial for the test is now underway in Denmark and Volition should start generating revenue for the first time this year. Cameron Reynolds, Volition’s CEO, explained to Ed Bowsher what else can we expect from the firm this year, especially as the company now expands outside Europe.

Georgie Frost was joined by Rachel Springall, personal finance expert at moneyfacts.co.uk this morning. Today on the agenda, they discussed why BT has agreed to legally separate from its Openreach division. Plus they look into how Lego has recorded its highest revenues in its 85-year history. . All these stories and more on The News Review.

To go through all the political headlines this morning with Georgie Frost was Ryan Heath, Senior EU Correspondent at POLITICO starting with the EU Leaders Summit. Theresa May was there and came to the defence of her Chancellor in a speech at the Summit. She has delayed the introduction of controversial National Insurance rises which has caused quite a stir over here. This was supposed to be the PM's last Summit before the triggering of Article 50. How is she treated among European leaders knowing she won't be there long term?