ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Theresa May today faced growing calls to do a U-turn on plans to axe the Serious Fraud Office.

Former solicitor general Sir Oliver Heald stepped up the pressure on the Prime Minister after the SFO’s specialist work to combat alleged “white collar crime” was highlighted in the charging today of Barclays and four individuals, including its former boss John Varley, with conspiracy to commit fraud.

The charges relate to the bank’s emergency fundraising during the financial crisis.

Mrs May proposed incorporating the SFO into the National Crime Agency as part of the Conservative manifesto, which is blamed by many Tories for the party’s shock failure to win a Commons majority.

Sir Oliver, who was number two in the Justice Ministry until Mrs May’s reshuffle earlier this month, believes the plan is flawed given the NCA’s focus as an investigatory body and the SFO’s wider prosecution role.

He did not wish to comment on the Barclay charges, but added: “The SFO is a body which concentrates on the very highest level of fraud which is so serious that it can have an effect on our economy.

“It’s expert at what it does, particularly as a prosecution authority. Its independence is very important.”

Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve has also stressed that he is unpersuaded that it is a “good idea” to abolish the SFO as a stand-alone organisation and criticised a lack of consultation over the inclusion of the proposal in the manifesto.

He doubts that the SFO’s focus on the Square Mile and financial crime “matches” with the NCA’s work on fighting drug barons, crime gangs, human traffickers, sexual exploitation of children, the smuggling of illegal firearms, cyber crime and modern slavery.

Bob Neill, the Conservative MP for Bromley and Chislehurst who chaired the Commons Justice Select Committee during the last Parliament, has warned Mrs May not to try to push the proposal through Parliament.

“Don’t trip up when you don’t have to,” he advised, stressing that a number of MPs had “serious misgivings”.

Sir Oliver said: “When Bob Neill, a former Attorney General and a former Solicitor General are saying this is not right — I hope that is listened to.”

As Home Secretary, Mrs May tried to push through the merger of the SFO into the NCA.

The move was blocked to protect the 400-strong SFO, which was set up 30 years ago and deals with the most serious cases of serious or complex fraud, bribery and corruption, but has faced criticism over a number of failed investigations.