UK taxpayers have lost £400m following the collapse of hundreds of startups backed by a heavily criticised Covid-era investment fund launched by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor, the Guardian reported. The Future Fund spent £1.14bn backing 1,190 companies, some of them of types not usually associated with government portfolios such as the sex party organiser Killing Kittens and the now defunct festival tickets business Pollen. The fund also invested nearly £2m in companies linked to Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty.

Crypto firms in Britain could be exempted from rules that ensure financial services companies act with integrity and in the interests of customers, under new proposals outlined by the Financial Conduct Authority on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The move comes after Britain signalled in April it would cooperate on the best approach towards digital assets with the United States, which has embraced the crypto industry and vowed to roll back regulatory curbs under President Donald Trump.

A Yorkshire scaffolding director has been ordered to fully repay £100,000 in Covid loans plus more than £15,000 interest, or face 12 months in prison, ConstructionNews.co.uk reported. Mark Degnan had already paid back £55,608 before he appeared at Leeds Crown Court on Monday (15 September) but could face 12 months in jail if he fails to repay the remaining £59,578 within six months, according to the Insolvency Service. Officials at the Insolvency Service said that he had “cynically exploited” the Covid loan scheme meant to help small businesses during the pandemic.

Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris has filed an arbitration demand accusing his former financial advisor, Thomas St. John, of stealing $22.5 million intended for real estate investments, MusicBusinessWorldwide.com reported. The legal action, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that St. John directed the funds instead toward a Hollywood “boondoggle” development project. The timing of Harris’s legal action is particularly striking. It arrives just a few months after US-based company, Thomas St.

Nearly 20% of Russian property developers are on the brink of bankruptcy due to falling sales and high interest rates, and that figure could soon exceed 30%, Pravda.com reported. The most vulnerable are companies that build mass housing and are dependent on mortgage demand. More than 19% of property developers are officially postponing completion dates, and delays of more than six months put projects in the "problem" category, the FISU said. Investment in property fell by 44% in the first half of 2025.

The U.K.’s unemployment rate held steady as pay growth cooled slightly, likely keeping the Bank of England on course to keep its key interest rate unchanged at this month’s meeting, the Wall Street Journal reported. The jobless rate was 4.7% in the three months to July, the same as the three months to both May and June. The key metric of earnings growth excluding bonuses was 4.8% on year in the same period to July, easing from the 5.0% to June, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday.

The United States and Britain plan to announce more than $10 billion in economic deals this week as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit, senior U.S. officials said on Monday, Reuters reported. The two governments are expected to seal a trade agreement with three pillars: a new science and technology partnership to strengthen the tech sectors of both countries, cooperation in civil nuclear power, and advances in defense technology cooperation, the officials said in a telephone briefing. Several U.S.

Industrial production in the eurozone returned to growth in July, a reflection of resilience in the face of U.S. tariffs that threatened to crimp demand, the Wall Street Journal reported. Output edged up 0.3% on month, after a 0.6% slump in June, statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday. That increase was driven by a strong 1.5% upswing in production in Germany, historically an engine of European industry but one that has struggled in recent years given high energy costs and increased competition from China.