By Lars Mucklejohn An influential City lobby group has called on the next government to create a dedicated champion to review and tackle regulation that drags on the international competitiveness of the UK financial services sector. UK Finance, a trade body for more than 300 banks, payment companies and other financial firms, issued the recommendation for a new “competitiveness champion” in a wide-ranging “financial services manifesto” ahead of the general election on 4 July. The group proposed that the champion would be responsible for producing an annual report to parliament on the burden of…