Catch up with all the big stories from the weekend.

The Business

Chancellor Gordon Brown tax and spend policies have pushed the overall marginal tax rate on Britain’s top earners to a crippling 57.1%, new research reveals. Average tax payers are paying 48.5% to Brown, after taking national insurance contributions, value added tax, excise duties as well as income tax into account.

The introduction of the single currency has failed to achieve a single rate of inflation across the euro zone, the European Central Bank said this weekend. The gulf between inflation rates in the different member states has actually increased since the launch in 1999, making it even harder for the Bank to set interest rates to suit all euro zone countries.

The Observer

Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus is expected to tell the City this week that it is looking to sell its aluminium business this year in a deal that could fetch £400m. The move would be a coup for chief executive Philippe Varin after a previous attempt to sell it to Pechiney of France was foiled by Corus’ Dutch directors in 2003.

Consumers could see at least £1bn wiped off their grocery bills if the food market is reformed following a competition probe, the boss of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said. John Fingleton said that fears of supermarket bosses that a lengthy investigation into the £95bn grocery market would be huge drain on the taxpayer are misplaced especially as the gains to the consumer would be vast.

The Mail on Sunday

Two former executives of Severn Trent Water are at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office investigation. The company was ordered last week to hand back £42m to customers after a two-year investigation by Ofwat.

Hundreds of hotels and bed and breakfasts are under threat of closure if official proposals to charge a controversial ‘bed tax’ get the go-ahead. The tourism tax which could add £100 to a UK family holiday have been proposed in an Audit Commission report.

Sunday Telegraph

The so-called Phoenix Four, who bought MG Rover with Government backing and made £40m from selling off the assets, have never paid the £10m they promised to help keep the company going in its last few days and have yet to make any significant contributions to a trust for ex Rover workers.

The tradtitional household boiler could soon be a thing of the past as Ceres Power has successfully designed and tested a 1kW fuel cell stack that generates sufficient power for the average home. Fuel cells are typically powered by hydrogen but the fuel cell stack developed by Ceres can also be pwered by natural gas. It is believed that the technology will cost around £3,000 when it comes to market.

The Sunday Times

London could overtake New York as the financial capital of the world, according to one of Wall Street’s most respected bankers. James ‘Jimmy’ Cayne chairman of Bearn Stearns makes the prediction in today Sunday Times.

Bankers have taken effective control of Derby County, the Coca-Cola Championship football club. Last month Co-operative Bank – which has lent the troubled club more than £30m – acquired a charge over nearly 1.2m of its shares.