The UK's automotive industry group SMMT said on Thursday that carmakers need clarity now on whether Britain will count as 'Made in ​EU' in the European Commission's Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) policy as the ‌ambiguity risks delaying investments, Reuters reported. The trade uncertainty comes at a time when both Britain and the EU face stiff competition from cheap Chinese electric vehicles. "The objective was to bolster the ​competitiveness of European industry vis-a-vis the increasing challenge coming from further ​afield, low-cost countries. We are not a low-cost country.
Read more
The board of UK watchdog Ofwat is split over whether to approve a rescue deal offered by the creditors of Thames Water, increasing the risk the utility could collapse into special administration, Bloomberg News reported. Ofwat’s board — eight men and women charged with deciding the future of the UK’s largest water and sewerage company — have so far failed to reach a consensus on the deal floated last month by senior creditors, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified talking about confidential negotiations.
Read more
The costs of managing the insolvency of the main trading arm of Greensill are expected to reach more than £90 million this year, The Times reported. Administrators of Greensill Capital (UK), or GCUK, which collapsed more than five years ago, said they are still dealing with the complicated fallout from its failure, including a series of regulatory and legal issues and the fact that more than $587 million “remains outstanding” from Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance.
Read more
U.K. residential battery supplier GivEnergy Ltd has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators with the Insolvency and Companies list, the UK court handling cases relating to the insolvency of companies in England and Wales, ESS-News.com reported. The filing is a preliminary step under UK insolvency law that triggers a short moratorium, typically up to 10 business days. It protects the company from creditor enforcement while administrators are formally lined up or other action occurs.
Read more
A celebrity-backed investment scheme could be wound up over £1.3 million of unpaid debts from Kevin Maxwell, The Times reported. Insolvency practitioners have raised concerns about the viability of a deal with creditors which Fortress Capital Partners reached in July. Edwin Kirker, of Kirker & Co, who was appointed to supervise the company voluntary arrangement (CVA), has warned of a series of alleged breaches, including the threatened removal of an independent director of Fortress.
Read more
Britain said on Tuesday it would cap interest rates on millions of student loans at 6% from September 2026, saying conflict ​in the Middle East risked pushing up inflation and sharply increasing borrowing costs ‌for graduates, Reuters reported. The student loan system in England and Wales has drawn criticism and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in February he would look at ways to make it fairer. The government ​has been accused by some lawmakers, including in his own Labour Party, ​of ripping off graduates with inflated interest charges and unfavourable repayment ⁠conditions.
Read more
More than 2,000 UK road haulage companies entered insolvency between 2021 and 2025, almost double the total recorded in the previous five-year period, according to parliamentary data. The figures show 2,051 insolvencies in 2021–2025, up from 1,068 in 2016–2020 in the SIC 49410 category, freight transport by road. Put another way, the UK lost road haulage firms at an average of almost eight insolvencies a week over those five years.
Read more