In re-nationalising the Royal Mail Pension Plan, one of the UK's largest, the government confirmed today that it will cancel its £11bn of gilt holdings at some point in the next year. That is bad news for BlackRock, which manages them, but there was good news elsewhere in the budget for some of its rival fund managers.

In an announcement carefully timed to coincide with the UK Budget, the European Commission gave the green light today to the UK government's plans to take on Royal Mail's pension fund, as a prelude to part-privatising the postal operator. The government had feared it would not be able to find a partner if the pension liability remained with Royal Mail.