The City roundup: John McFarlane to become next Barclays chairman; Wetherspoon’s boss lashes out at tax bills

Video: Alex Lawson provides a run-down of the day's major news from the City

The JD Wetherspoon pub, the 'Hope And Champion', opens for the first day of trading in the Extra Motorway Service Area at junction 2 of the M40 motorway on January 21, 2014 in Beaconsfield, England. (Oli Scarff | Getty Images )

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The independence debate has dominated the business agenda all week, yet today the City took its eyes away from the referendum campaign, albeit momentarily.

Scotland's most successful businessmen John McFarlane was today named as the next Barclays chairman.

McFarlane replaces Sir David Walker, who was the helm since the Libor rigging crisis back in 2012. McFarlane was poached from Aviva after completing a turnaround of the life insurer.

Elsewhere, JD Wetherspoon's boss Tim Martin complained today about tax, believing the playing field needs to be levelled after his company's tax bill topped £600 million last year.

Martin claims supermarkets do not have to pay VAT on food sales and are therefore effectively able to subsidise alcohol prices.

Martin also weighed into the Scottish referendum debate as he dismissed predictions that Scotland will face a decade of uncertainty if it votes for independence as "nonsense".